Abstract
PurposeTo investigate the diversity of the epiphytic bacteria on corn (Zea mays) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) collected in Hengshui City and Xingtai City, Hebei Province, China, and explore crops suitable for natural silage.MethodsThe Illumina MiSeq/NovaSeq high-throughput sequencing system was used to conduct paired-end sequencing of the community DNA fragments from the surface of corn and alfalfa collected in Hengshui and Xingtai. QIIME2 and R software were used to sort and calculate the number of sequences and taxonomic units for each sample. Thereafter, the alpha and beta diversity indices at of species level were calculated, and the abundance and distribution of taxa were analyzed and compared between samples.ResultAt phylum level, the dominant groups were Proteobacteria (70%), Firmicutes (13%), Actinobacteria (9%), and Bacteroidetes (7%). Meanwhile, the dominant genera were Pseudomonas (8%), Acinetobacter (4%), Chryseobacterium (3%), and Hymenobacter (1%). Enterobacteriaceae (24%) were the most predominant bacteria in both the corn and alfalfa samples. Alpha diversity analysis and beta diversity indices revealed that the diversity of epiphytic microbial communities was significantly affected by plant species but not by region. The diversity and richness of the epiphytic bacterial community of alfalfa were significantly higher than those of corn.ConclusionThis study contributes to the expanding knowledge on the diversity of epiphytic bacteria in corn and alfalfa silage and provides a basis for the selection of raw materials.
Highlights
Natural silage is the process of converting the fermentation substrate in raw materials into acidic products, such as lactic acid through the proliferation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on crops
This study contributes to the expanding knowledge on the diversity of epiphytic bacteria in corn and alfalfa silage and provides a basis for the selection of raw materials
Species composition analysis The specific composition of the microbial communities at each classification level in each sample was obtained using the statistics of the amplicon sequence variant (ASV) table after rarefaction
Summary
Natural silage is the process of converting the fermentation substrate (soluble sugar) in raw materials into acidic products, such as lactic acid through the proliferation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on crops. This process creates an acidic environment and inhibits the proliferation of harmful microorganisms, thereby preserving the nutritional content of raw materials (Zhang et al 2011). Homofermentative LAB can produce more lactic acid, which can improve the fermentation quality of silage. They produce volatile fatty acids to inhibit the growth of aerobic bacteria and improve the aerobic stability of silage
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