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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2019, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (6): 109-118.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2018339

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Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) and moisture on feed quality and tannin content of Moringa oleifera leaf silage

WANG Cheng1, WANG Yi2, ZHOU Wei2, PIAN Rui-qi2, ZHANG Qing2,*, CHEN Xiao-yang2,*   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China;
    2.College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangdong Research Center of Woody Forage Engineering Technology Guangzhou, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Innovation Development and Utilization of Forest Plant Germplasm, Guangzhou 510642, China
  • Received:2018-05-22 Revised:2018-07-05 Online:2019-06-20 Published:2019-06-20
  • Contact: * E-mail: zqing1988@126.com, xychen@scau.edu.cn

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effect of moisture and Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) on the quality and tannin content of Moringa oleifera leaf silage. The design was a completely randomized, two-factor (60%, 70%, or 75% moisture×+/- LP, 1×106 cfu·g-1 fresh matter. After 60 and 120 days ensiling, samples were collected to determine fermentation quality, protein composition and tannin content. The M. oleifera leaves at ensiling had a crude protein (CP) content of 16.72% of dry matter (DM), and water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content of 10.72% DM. The moisture content had a significant effect on the quality of M. oleifera leaf silage. Compared with the 60% water group, the content of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) and free amino acid (FAA) in the 70% water content group was significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the contents of lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA) and propionic acid (PA) were significantly increased (P<0.05). At 70% water content, adding L. plantarum resulted in significantly increased (P<0.05) the content of organic acids (LA, AA, PA), while the numbers of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts were significantly decreased (P<0.05). After 60 d at 75% moisture content, the addition of L. plantarum had reduced the pH value significantly (P<0.05), and all treated coliform counts were less than 2.0 log cfu·g-1 fresh matter. None of the various combinations of LP and moisture treatment produced any statistically significant change to the tannin content of M. oleifera leaf silage (P>0.05). The protein content of M. oleifera leaves is high, and they are easy to ensile. The 70% water content and the addition of LP obviously improve the quality of M. oleifera leaf silage, but do not have any significant effect on degradation of the tannin content.

Key words: Moringa oleifera leaves silage, moisture, lactic acid bacteria, tannin