Oat silage

Oat is a forage with high protein content and good palatability, and is considered as one of the main feed sources for ruminants. In this experiment, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus and Lentilactobacillus buchneri were selected as silage additives to investigate the fermentation quality, nutrient composition, microbial community and the relationship between fermentation products and bacterial community of oat silage after ensiling. The experiment was set up with three treatment groups and three replications in each group, which were control (C) group, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (LR) group and Lentilactobacillus buchneri (LB) group, respectively, and oat silages were fermented for 10 and 30 days. The results showed that both LR and LB additions significantly increased water-soluble carbohydrate, crude protein, lactic acid, propionic acid and acetic acid contents, and decreased pH, butyric acid, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, ammonia nitrogen contents and yeast and enterobacteria numbers of oat silage, compared with the C group. The highest content of acetic acid and the lowest number of enterobacteria and yeast were found in the LB group after 30 days fermentation. Lentilactobacillus and Lacticaseibacillus were the dominant genera in the LB and LR groups, regardless of fermentation times. Lentilactobacillus and Lacticaseibacillus were positively correlated with acorrelation value of 0.9. Bacillus was negatively correlated with Lentilactobacillus and Lacticaseibacillus. The Lentilactobacillus and Lacticaseibacillus genera positively correlated (P < 0.05) to acetic acid and lactic acid concentrations, while pH and butyric acid were found to be positively correlated (P < 0.01) with the Bacillus. In summary, this experiment revealed the effects of Lentilactobacillus buchneri and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus on the fermentation quality and bacterial community of oat silage by High Performance Liquid Chromatography integrated with high-throughput sequencing technology methods, providing a theoretical basis for development of high-efficiency silage additives.