Exploring the fermentation quality, bacterial community and metabolites of alfalfa ensiled with mugwort residues and Lactiplantibacillus pentosus

Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture

Table 1 The fermentation characteristics and microbial population by plate culture of alfalfa silage

Items	Treatments				SEM	P-value
Items	CK	LAB	M	LAB + M	SEM	P-value
DM (g/kg)	202.20	215.60	208.90	201.50	7.80	0.35
pH	5.89a	5.44b	5.48b	5.13c	0.09	< 0.01
Lactic acid (g/kg DM)	8.50c	14.65c	15.91b	24.36a	3.35	< 0.01
Acetic acid (g/kg DM)	16.92a	8.72b	15.67a	13.03b	3.67	< 0.01
Propionic acid (g/kg DM)	8.77	5.48	5.79	8.53	1.12	0.68
Butyric acid (g/kg DM)	4.09a	3.96a	2.33b	0.39c	0.51	< 0.01
NH₃-N (g/kg TN)	69.24a	70.34a	61.00a	44.40b	3.50	< 0.01
Lactic acid bacteria (lg cfu/g FM)	7.96	8.05	8.23	8.21	0.05	0.32
Coliform bacteria (lg cfu/g FM)	6.32a	5.62ab	5.00b	3.91c	0.30	< 0.01
Yeast (lg cfu/g FM)	2.23a	1.16b	NDc	NDc	0.43	< 0.01

DM dry matter, NH₃-N ammonia nitrogen, TN total nitrogen, CK control, LAB treatment with Lactiplantibacillus pentosus, M treatment with mugwort residues, LAB + M treatment with Lactiplantibacillus pentosus and mugwort residues, ND not detected; a–c means with different letters within a line are significantly different (P < 0.05)