Temperature affects production of greenhouse gases by altering activity of the microbial community during fermentation

CO2 and N2O produced during the silage period of the production of animal feed are a source of greenhouse gas emissions. To explore the effects of different temperatures on the fermentation quality of forage sorghum, CO2 and N2O production, and the associated bacterial microbial communities, we set up four temperature treatments (10, 20, 30, and 40 degrees Celsius) for silage of forage sorghum. After 40 days of fermentation at 20 degrees, the NO3-content decreased significantly and the N2O and CO2 yields increased; temperature, silage time, and the interaction between the two significantly affected the fermentation characteristics of forage sorghum silage. Under the four temperature treatments, with the extension of silage time , Lactobacillus dominated the fermentation process and significantly affected the production of CO2 and N2O; Enterobacter and Klebsiella were significantly positively correlated with N2O production, while the relative abundance of Pseudomonas and Enterococcus were significantly negatively correlated with N2O and CO2 production; CO2 production was significantly positively correlated with the relative abundance of Klebsiella. In summary, temperature can affect the fermentation quality of silage by changing the bacterial microbial community, and also can affect the production of greenhouse gases during the silage process.