Abstract:

To investigate the effects of different additives on the quality of broomcorn millet stem and leaf silage and to find the optimal silage conditions for broomcorn millet stem and leaf, an experiment was conducted using 'Qishu 1' broomcorn millet stems and leaves after harvesting the grain as raw materials. Five addictive treatments were set up, including Lactobacillus plantarum (0.02‰), sucrose (2.0%), cellulase (0.05‰), urea (4%), and a control without additives. The samples were collected and measured for nutrient content and fermentation quality at 20℃ for 50 days. The results showed that the sensory evaluation of all additive treatments was better than that of the control. The DM and CP contents of T₁ treatment were the highest, at 37.23% and 3.69%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the control. The NDF content of T₃ treatment was the lowest (57.73%), which was significantly lower than that of the control. The WSC content of T₄ treatment was the highest (1.62%), which was significantly higher than that of the control. The additives significantly reduced the pH and NH₃-N content of broomcorn millet stem and leaf silage and improved its aerobic stability. The pH range of the different additive treatments was 3.56-3.96, the NH₃-N content range was 2.75%-3.53%, and the AS range was 87-113 h. In summary, the additive treatments improved the quality of broomcorn millet stem and leaf silage. Using fuzzy membership function calculation, the best quality of broomcorn millet stem and leaf silage was obtained in the Lactobacillus plantarum treatment, followed by the cellulase treatment.

Key words: additive, broomcorn millet, straw, silage, quality, nutrient content, fermentation characteristics, lactobacillus plantarum, cellulase