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. 2023 May 30:14:1148884.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1148884. eCollection 2023.

Effects of sugarcane variety and nitrogen application level on the quality and aerobic stability of sugarcane tops silage

Qichao Gu  1 , Lu Zhang  1 , Xiaokang Zhou  1 , Bo Lin  1 , Caixia Zou  1
Affiliations

Effects of sugarcane variety and nitrogen application level on the quality and aerobic stability of sugarcane tops silage

Qichao Gu et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

To better understand the effects of sugarcane variety and nitrogen application level on silage, we analyzed the fermentation quality, microbial community dynamics, and aerobic exposure of sugarcane tops silage from three sugarcane varieties (B9, C22, and T11) treated with three levels of nitrogen (0, 150, and 300 kg/ha urea). After 132 days of silage, the sugarcane tops silage produced from variety B9, with strong nitrogen fixation ability, treated with nitrogen had the highest crude protein (CP) contents, pH, and yeast counts (P < 0.05), as well as the lowest Clostridium counts (P < 0.05), and the CP increased with increasing N application level (P < 0.05). In contrast, the sugarcane tops silage produced from variety C22, with poor nitrogen fixation ability, treated with 150 kg/ha nitrogen had the highest lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts, dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and lactic acid (LA) contents (P < 0.05), as well as the lowest acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents (P < 0.05). However, these results were not present in the sugarcane tops silage produced from variety T11, with no nitrogen fixation ability, whether it was treated with nitrogen or not; although the silage was treated with 300 kg/ha nitrogen, the ammonia-N (AN) content was the lowest (P < 0.05). After 14 days of aerobic exposure, Bacillus abundance increased in the sugarcane tops silage produced from variety C22 treated with 150 kg/ha nitrogen and from varieties C22 and B9 treated with 300 kg/ha nitrogen, while Monascus abundance increased in the sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties B9 and C22 treated with 300 kg/ha nitrogen and from variety B9 treated with 150 kg/ha nitrogen. However, correlation analysis showed that Monascus was positively correlated with Bacillus irrespective of nitrogen level and sugarcane variety. Our results indicated that sugarcane variety C22, with poor nitrogen fixation ability, treated with 150 kg/ha nitrogen produced the highest sugarcane tops silage quality and inhibited the proliferation of harmful microorganisms during spoilage.

Keywords: N-fixing abilities; bacterial community; fermentation quality; fungal community; nitrogen fertilizer; sugarcane tops.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bacterial communities in sugarcane tops silage during 14 d of aerobic exposure. (A) Phylum-level bacterial communities in sugarcane-top silage during 14 d of aerobic exposure; (B) Genus-level bacterial communities in sugarcane-top silage during 14 d of aerobic exposure. BL, BM, and BH indicate sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties B9 treated with nitrogen application of 0 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 300 kg/ha, respectively. CL, CM, and CH indicate sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties C22 treated with nitrogen application of 0 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 300 kg/ha, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fungal communities in sugarcane tops silage during 14 d of aerobic exposure. (A) Phylum-level fungal communities in sugarcane-top silage during 14 d of aerobic exposure; (B) Genus-level fungal communities in sugarcane-top silage during 14 d of aerobic exposure. BL, BM, and BH indicate sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties B9 treated with nitrogen application of 0 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 300 kg/ha, respectively. CL, CM, and CH indicate sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties C22 treated with nitrogen application of 0 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 300 kg/ha, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlations between bacterial and fungal communities in sugarcane tops silage after aerobic exposure. Fungi are shown in blue text, and bacteria are shown in red text. (A–F). Correlations between bacteria and fungi in the BL (A), BM (B), BH (C), CL (D), CM (E), and CH (F) groups after aerobic exposure. BL, BM, and BH indicate sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties B9 treated with nitrogen application of 0 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 300 kg/ha, respectively. CL, CM, and CH indicate sugarcane tops silage produced from varieties C22 treated with nitrogen application of 0 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha and 300 kg/ha, respectively. *: 0.01 < p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.
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