Co-ensiling whole-plant mulberry with navel orange residue enhances fermentation quality, bacterial community, and in vitro digestibility

Chen, Rongqiang; Zhang, Qiang; Ou, Xiang; Cao, Xianhong; Wu, Lijuan; Lian, Hai; Xie, Hualiang; Zhao, Xianghui; Lei, Xiaowen

doi:.0.0.0

Article

https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.250683 [Accepted] Published online December 18, 2025.

Co-ensiling whole-plant mulberry with navel orange residue enhances fermentation quality, bacterial community, and in vitro digestibility

Rongqiang Chen¹

, Xiaowen Lei^1,*

¹Ganzhou Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Research Institute, Ganzhou, China
²Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition/Engineering Research Center of Feed Development, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China

Correspondence: Xianghui Zhao,Email: xianghuizhao@jxau.edu.cn
Xiaowen Lei, Tel: +86-0797-6653302, Email: 18907977270@163.com

Received: 22 September 2025 • Revised: 28 October 2025 • Accepted: 11 December 2025

Abstract

Objective
Navel orange residue (NOR) is considered to improve the silage quality of whole-plant mulberry (WPM) because of its high water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content. In order to investigate the mechanism underlying NOR regulated WPM silage quality, the chemical composition, fermentation quality, bacterial community and in vitro digestibility of WPM and NOR mixed silages were analysed.
Methods
WPM and NOR were mixed at ratios of 10:0 (MCK), 7:3 (M7O3), 5:5 (M5O5), and 3:7 (M3O7) on a dry matter (DM) basis. Samples were collected after 15, 30 and 45 days of ensiling to study their chemical composition, fermentation quality, bacterial community and in vitro digestibility. The optimal treatment was identified through membership function analysis.
Results
In comparison with MCK, incorporating 30–70% NOR ensiled for 15–45 days significantly increased DM, WSC, lactic acid, and acetic acid (AA) contents (p<0.05). At the same time, it resulted in a significant decrease in the levels of crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, pH, and NH3-N (p<0.05). The NOR addition encouraged the beneficial heterofermentative species Lactobacillus pontis, Lactobacillus panis, and Lactobacillus buchneri, whilst preventing unfavourable microorganisms (p<0.05). In addition, in vitro rumen fermentation analysis demonstrated that adding 30–70% NOR and ensiling for 15–30 days markedly increased in vitro dry matter digestibility, gas production, total volatile fatty acids, AA, and propionic acid (PA) (p<0.05), along with a significant decrease in the AA/PA ratio (p<0.05). M3O7 ensiled for 15 days and M5O5 ensiled for 30 days achieved high membership function values of 0.839 and 0.732, respectively.
Conclusion
Co-ensiling WPM with 30–70% NOR for 15–45 days significantly enhanced fermentation quality, improved bacterial diversity, and increased in vitro digestibility. Overall, the optimal strategies for producing high-quality silage are co-ensiling WPM with either 70% NOR for 15 days or 50% NOR for 30 days.

Keywords: Whole-plant mulberry; Navel orange residue; Mixing ratio; Fermentation quality; Bacterial community; In vitro digestibility