Effect of microalgae supplementation on the silage quality and anaerobic digestion performance of Manyflower silvergrass

Abstract

The silage quality of Manyflower silvergrass with microalgae supplementation was investigated, and the variation in bacterial communities during ensilage period was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing technology. In addition, the specific methane yields of the silages were also evaluated. Results showed that the samples with microalgae supplementation have lower pH value and higher lactic acid concentration (8.0 mg/g FM). Meanwhile, higher NH3-N concentration was observed since microalgae were N-rich material. Microalgae additions also influenced the bacterial community structure. For the samples without microalgae, the major genus was Enterococcus from day 1 to day 3, and then Lactobacillus became the dominant genus. While the prevalent genus represented in the samples with microalgae supplementation was Lactobacillus. The specific methane yields of all samples were within the range of 153 ± 1 mL/g VS to 178 ± 11 mL/g VS and no significant difference was observed.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Bacterial community; Manyflower silvergrass; Microalgae; Silage.