Effect of additives on fermentation characteristics, nutrient values and &lt;i&gt;in vitro&lt;/i&gt; fermentation profile of &lt;i&gt;Neolamarckia cadamba&lt;/i&gt; leaf silage

L He,X Chen,C Wang,W Zhou,Q Zhang

doi:10.4314/sajas.v49i4.6

Effect of additives on fermentation characteristics, nutrient values and <i>in vitro</i> fermentation profile of <i>Neolamarckia cadamba</i> leaf silage

L He, X Chen + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4314/sajas.v49i4.6

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Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of additives on the ensiling characteristics of Neolamarckia cadamba leaf (NCL) silage. The NCL were allocated to six ensiling treatments, namely control (C-S), uncompacted (UC-S) (negative control), with the addition of sodium sulphite (S-S), with propionate (P-S), with citric acid plus sodium acetate (CA-S), and with glucose (G-S). Fermentation parameters, chemical compositions and in vitro fermentation profile of the silages were investigated after 60 days’ storage. Compared with the control, the application of additives improved dry matter recovery (DMR), while UC-S had a poorer DMR. All the silages increased in pH value and acetate content, except for P-S. Lactate concentration was higher in S-S and G-S, and lower in UC-S, P-S, and CA-S. P-S, CA-S, and G-S had increased water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations. Soluble crude protein was higher in UC-S and CA-S. All the treated silage had greater gas production at slower rates, except for S-S. The fermentation of S-S, P-S and CA-S resulted in higher content of short-chain fatty acids and microbial crude protein relative to UC-S. S-S (38.82%) and CA-S (37.89%) had higher organic matter digestibility relative to the control (36.43%). S-S (42.80%) and P-S (43.99%) had higher crude protein digestibility, which was lower in UC-S (30.73%) when compared with the control (37.74%). There was no difference in the predicted available energy of these silages. The low ammonium nitrogen ratio and the high proportion of true protein inferred that protein was well preserved in these silages, even the uncompacted silage. These results suggest that sulphite and organic acids, such as propionate and citrate, could be an option to improve the feed quality of NCL silage, and its great protein conservation deserves more attention. Keywords: feed quality, in vitro technique, Neolamarckia cadamba , ruminant nutrition, silage processing

Highlights

Neolamarckia cadamba, an evergreen tropical tree that is native to South and South East Asia, has been exploited as woody forage in the past few years, because of its rapid growth, biomass yield and high protein content, and abundant components such as plant polyphenols (He et al, 2018)
The results showed that N. cadamba leaf (NCL) contained about 14% CP and 30% NDF, in which the protein level was high enough for beef cattle and the fibre content fell into the dietary range (NRC, 2000), promoting its high inclusion in the diet
water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) is critical for silage fermentation, acting as the fermentation substrate, in which 5% is thought to be the threshold for acceptable fermentation (Ni et al, 2017), inferring that ensiling NCL (4.42% WSC) without the application of additives may not work well

Summary

Introduction

Neolamarckia cadamba, an evergreen tropical tree that is native to South and South East Asia, has been exploited as woody forage in the past few years, because of its rapid growth, biomass yield and high protein content, and abundant components such as plant polyphenols (He et al, 2018). Ensiling seems to be the most practical way of keeping forage supplied all year round. It is based on lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which convert WSC anaerobically into organic acids to decrease the pH and inhibit the activity of spoilage organisms (McDonald et al, 1991).

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