Effects of ensiling fodder ramie (Boehmeria nivea L.) with lactic acid bacteria and molasses on fermentation quality

This experiment was conducted to determine the ensiling characteristics and microbial changes of fodder ramie silage treated without additive (Control), or with molasses (M), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and mixtures of lactic acid bacteria and molasses (LABM). Triplicate samples were randomly opened on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 28 and 60 of ensiling for sampling and the contents were processed for quality assessment and laboratory analysis. Compared with control silage, addition of M and LABM decreased pH and butyric acid while increasing lactic acid during ensiling (P < 0.05). For the LAB treatment, the pH value declined slowly at initial days then kept relatively stable at about 5.39 and the concentration of lactic acid increased for the first 7 days then maintained stable until day 60. The control silage showed a rise in pH and a significant decline in lactic acid concentration at later stage. Microbial changes had similar trend during ensiling for all the treatments where the lactic acid bacteria increased at initial days then showed a decline at later stage. Furthermore, LAB treatment had the highest (P<0.05) lactic acid bacteria population at almost all ensiling periods. It was concluded that both M and LABM treatment can improve the fermentation quality of fodder ramie silage to some extent, but the effects of adding lactic acid bacteria still need further research.