Effects of moisture content and additive on silage quality of Neolamarckia cadamba leaves

Objective  To investigate the effects of different moisture contents and additives on ensiling fermentation qualities of Neolamarckia cadamba leaves.

Method  The N. cadamba leaves were used as raw materials, and air-cured until the moisture contents (w) were 80% and 70% respectively. The ensiling processes were conducted through adding formic acid (FA, 3 g·kg^–1), Lactobacillus plantarum (LP, 1×10⁶ cfu·g^–1) and Zhuanglemei silage starter (ZLM, 0.005 g·kg^–1) to each moisture content treatment. The treatment without additive was counted as the control (CK).

Result  The crude protein content (w) of N. Cadamba leaves without air-curing before ensiling was 22.98%, and the neutral and acid detergent fiber contents (w) were 32.84% and 24.91% respectively. The moisture content had significant effects on silage qualities of N. cadamba leaves. With the decrease of moisture content, the dry matter and water soluble carbohydrate contents increased extremely significantly (P<0.01), pH decreased extremely significantly (P<0.01). Under the two moisture contents, the pH of the treatments adding LP and ZLM were extremely significantly lower than CK (P<0.01). While the moisture content was 70%, twolactobacillus starters (LP and ZLM) extremely significantly reduced the numbers of yeast (P<0.01). The water soluble carbohydrate content in the treatment adding FA under 70% moisture content was extremely significantly higher than those in CK and other treatments (P<0.01). The logarithm values ofEscherichia coli numbers in all treatments were less than 2.0, no butyric acid was detected, and all rations of w(NH₄⁺-N) to w(TN) were below 10%.

Conclusion  N. cadamba leaves have high feeding value and are liable to produce silage. Reducing moisture content properly and applying additives can partly improve the ensiling fermentation qualities of N. cadamba leaves.