The wilting process is required for the preparation of traditional low-moisture silage, which is not only subject to the interference of rainfall during the harvest season in many areas, but also increases labor, economic, and time costs. Therefore, in this experiment, newly harvested alfalfa was supplemented with a complex additive consisting of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), sucrose, and corn flour, and then ensiled directly in order to explore a suitable high-moisture silage processing method. There were four groups: control (CK), 0.01 g/kg LAB plus 2% sugar (S), 0.01 g/kg LAB plus 5% corn flour (C5), and 0.01 g/kg LAB plus 5% corn flour (C10). The results show that all four types of silage had significantly reduced acid detergent fiber, acetic acid content, and ammonia/total nitrogen (p < 0.05). The relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp. was significantly higher (p < 0.05), and that of Weissella, Clostridium sensu stricto 12, and Pantoea genera was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in all four treatments. Group S had significantly increased crude protein content, and groups C5 and C10 had significantly reduced neutral detergent fiber. Overall, group C10 had the highest LA concentration, the highest relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp., and the lowest pH, ammonia/total nitrogen, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber. Silage with a complex additive consisting of LAB + 10% corn flour is recommended to achieve good fermentation with high nutritional quality.

Forage is an indispensable feed for livestock, and the world is currently facing an imbalance in the “human-grass-livestock” relationship, with a sharp disparity between grass and livestock fundamentally due to insufficient forage resources. It is urgent to promote the development of a high-quality forage industry. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global alfalfa market is expected to reach $25.6 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.03%, showing strong growth momentum. Optimizing alfalfa, a high-quality forage material with huge volume in the world, modulation and processing technology, exploring the key technologies of improving quality and reducing loss, reducing cost and increasing efficiency, and increasing its application path in livestock feeding, are the key issues to be solved urgently. This article reviews relevant literature published domestically and internationally. The key technologies for alfalfa storage and processing were summarized, and the nutritional value of high-quality forage and the key factors affecting its effectiveness explored, in order to provide references for production technicians and scientific researchers.

Siberian wildrye (Elymus sibiricus L.) is a salt-tolerant, high-quality forage grass that plays an important role in forage production and ecological restoration. Abscisic acid (ABA)-insensitive 5 (ABI5) is essential for the normal functioning of the ABA signal pathway. However, the role of ABI5 from Siberian wildrye under salt stress remains unclear. Here, we evaluated the role of Elymus sibiricus L. abscisic acid-insensitive 5 (EsABI5) in the ABA-dependent regulation of the response of Siberian wildrye to salt stress. The open reading frame length of EsABI5 isolated from Siberian wildrye was 1170 bp, and it encoded a 389 amino acid protein, which was localized to the nucleus, with obvious coiled coil areas. EsABI5 had high homology, with ABI5 proteins from Hordeum vulgare, Triticum monococcum, Triticum aestivum, and Aegilops tauschii. The conserved domains of EsABI5 belonged to the basic leucine zipper domain superfamily. EsABI5 had 10 functional interaction proteins with credibility greater than 0.7. EsABI5 expression was upregulated in roots and leaves under NaCl stress and was upregulated in leaves and downregulated in roots under ABA treatment. Notably, tobacco plants overexpressing the EsABI5 were more sensitive to salt stress, as confirmed by the determining of related physiological indicators. EsABI5 expression affected the ABA and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Therefore, EsABI5 is involved in antisalt responses in these pathways and plays a negative regulatory role during salt stress.

A dilute alkali pretreatment (NaOH) was used to remove lignin and some hemicelluloses, as well as to efficiently increase the accessibility of enzymes to the cellulose in Amur silvergrass. A single factor experiment was designed with 4 factors (1 to 5% w/w NaOH, 1/6 to 1/14 solid to liquid ratio, 15 to 90 min residence time, and 80 to 125 °C digestion temperature) with 3 duplicates of 5 levels for each factor. On the basis of the single factor test, an L8 (24)-orthogonal experiment was conducted to identify the main influencing factor and the optimal factor combinations verified by an enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation experiment. The main factors influencing ethanol production were NaOH concentration and digestion temperature, while residence time and solid to liquid ratio had a lesser effect. The enzymatic hydrolysis rate of cellulose reached 82.6%, and the highest conversion rate of ethanol was 78.3% with 4.0% (w/w) NaOH and a 1:6 solid to liquid ratio at 100 °C for 15 min. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the lignocellulosic surface structure of non-pretreated and optimum pretreated Amur silvergrass displayed obvious differences. The lignin was the key recalcitrance-causing factor for ethanol production, which can be effectively removed by the NaOH.

To explore the effects of different silage inoculants on the silage quality of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), the experiment used Alfalfa with a moisture content of 60.00% after harvesting as the raw material. The treatments included a control group containing only distilled water (CK), Xinlaiwang I-straw silage agent (A), Xinlaiwang I-alfalfa silage agent (B), Zhuanglemei silage fermentation agent (C), Baoshiqing (D), and Kangfuqing S lactic acid bacteria inoculant (E), totaling six treatments. After 60 days of normal temperature sealing treatment, the silage fermentation and nutritional indicators of Alfalfa were measured, and the silage fermentation effect was analyzed by the membership function method. The experiment showed that when the moisture content of alfalfa was 60.00%, the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents of the silage agent treatment groups were significantly lower than those of the CK group (p &lt; 0.05). The lactic acid (LA) content was significantly higher in the treatment group than in the CK group (p < 0.05). The addition of Xinlaiwang I-alfalfa silage agent in group B significantly increased the crude protein (CP) and LA levels in the Alfalfa silage (p < 0.05). It also reduced the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents. Additionally, the pH and Ammonia Nitrogen/Total Nitrogen (AN/TN) ratio were lowered. Propionic acid (PA) and butyric acid (BA) were not detected. After the membership function calculation, the average membership value of Xinlaiwang I-alfalfa silage agent (B) group was the highest with a score of 0.90, ranking first, and the silage quality was the best. In summary, through quality analysis and membership function calculation, Xinlaiwang I-alfalfa silage agent can effectively improve the silage quality of WL298HQ alfalfa.