A Study On Application Of Additives In Alfalfa Ensiling

The four parts involved in this paper are: application of orthogonal test to alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.)ensiled with complex additives; effects and fermentation mechanism of the best complex additives on alfalfa silage; study for mixed silage of alfalfa with smooth bromegrass; and effects of different additives as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), cellulase (C), LAB+C and LAB+G on the quality of alfalfa silage. The items used to evaluate the silage quality were pH, NDF, ADF, LA, AA, BA, CP and NH3-N. The results are as follows: (i) Alfalfa with Higher DM ensiled without additives had lower NH3-N, conserved more CP and produced more LA than that with lower DM content. (ii) The orthogonal test showed that the best combination of additives should be alfalfa with 30.12% of DM content, 10~6 cfu/g LAB, 0.1g/kg cellulase and 20g/kg glucose. Effects of the four factors on the quality of alfalfa silage were dosage of glucose —DM content of alfalfa —dosage of cellulase —addition of LAB in order. (iii) Alfalfa (DM 31.24%) silage addied with the best complex additives had better results in the contents of ADF, NDF and NH3-N than alfalfa(DM 40.81%) ensiled, ammonia nitrogen content were reduced, and more CP conserved and more lactic acid produced. (iv) The mixed silage of alfalfa and smooth bromegrass had the better effect than alfalfa ensiled directly, the weight rate of alfalfa and smooth bromegrass was 65%:35% had the best result among the three mixed silage treatment. (v) Effects of complex additives on the quality of alfalfa were better than any one of the additives used solely. Taking NH3-N as the major index to evaluate the quality of alfalfa silage, the overall result of different additives on silage qulity were CK< C < LAB < LAB+C < LAB+G. The quality of alfalfa silage (38.45% DM) added with LAB or LAB+C or LAB+G were all better than other groups treated with DM content. The addition of 10~5 cfu/g LAB, 10~6 cfu/g LAB and 0.05 g/kg C, 10~7 cfu/g LAB and 10 g/kg G had the best results for alfalfa (DM 38.45%) silage respectively. Effect of cellulase on alfalfa silage was ambiguous, but better results were got from the alfalfa with higher DM content and added with cellulose in higher level.