Effects of additives on fermentation quality of alfalfa silage

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of acetic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid bacterial, cellulose and urea additives on the fermentation qualities of whole-plant alfalfa growth in the first year. From the results, all additives except for urea significantly improved the fermentation quality of alfalfa and decreased pH and ammoniacal nitrogen content. The interaction of additives and varieties significantly affected all testing items for fermentation quality (p<0.01). Additives had a significant effect on pH and lactic acid bacterial content of different alfalfa varieties (p<0.01) and also affected NH3-N/TN (p<0.05). However, additives showed no significant effect on content of acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid. Among all varieties, God Empress had a superior silage quality with a lowest pH and highest lactic acid content and a relatively low NH3-N/TN.