Impact of wilting and additives on fermentation quality and carbohydrate composition of mulberry silage

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of wilting and additives on the fermentation quality, structural and non-structural carbohydrate composition of mulberry silages. METHODS: The selected lactic acid bacteria strains Lactobacillus plantarum ‘LC279063’ (L1), commercial inoculant Gaofuji (GF), and Trichoderma viride cellulase (CE) were used as additives for silage preparation. Silage treatments were designed as control (CK), L1, GF, or CE under three wilting rates, that is wilting for 0, 2, or 4 hours (h). After ensiling for 30 days, the silages were analyzed for the chemical and fermentation characteristics. RESULTS: The results showed that wilting had superior effects on increasing the non-structural carbohydrate concentration and degrading the structural carbohydrate. After ensiling for 30 days, L1 generally had a higher fermentation quality than other treatments, indicated by the lower pH value, acetic acid, propionic acid and ammonia nitrogen (NH(3)-N) content, and the higher lactic acid, water soluble carbohydrate, glucose, galactose, sucrose, and cellobiose concentration (p<0.05) at any wilting rate. Wilting could increase the ratio of lactic acid/acetic acid and decrease the content of NH(3)-N. CONCLUSION: The results confirmed that wilting degraded the structural carbohydrate and increased the non-structural carbohydrate; and L1 exhibited better properties in improving fermentation quality and maintaining a high non-structural carbohydrates composition compared with the other treatments.