The reconstitution mechanism of napier grass microiota during the ensiling of alfalfa and their contributions to fermentation quality of silage

To reveal the reconstitution mechanism of exogenous microbiota and their contributions to fermentation quality during the early stage of alfalfa ensiling. The chopped alfalfa was treated with the following: distilled water (A1); napier grass microbiota (A1N); γ-ray radiation + distilled water (A0); γ-ray radiation + napier grass microbiota (A0N). Inoculating napier grass microbiota to non-irradiated alfalfa decreased the LA concentration, while enhanced the LA production of irradiated alfalfa during the 7 d of ensiling. Inoculating napier grass microbiota increased AA and ammonia-N contents and enhanced the decline of WSC for both non-irradiated and irradiated alfalfa silages. Enterococcus and Pediococcus dominated A1 silage. Leuconostocs and Lactobacillus constituted the majority of bacterial community in A0N, Lactobacillus rapidly became the predominated genera, while Lactobacillus, Leuconostocs, Enterococcus, and Pediococcus constituted the majority of bacterial community in A1N. Thus forage microbiota transplantation may be a potential practice to improve fermentation quality of less readily fermentable forages.