Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Dec 26.
doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-04580-6. Online ahead of print.

Effects of different additives and chopping lengths on the biosafety of Sophora Davidii silage

Shihao Liu  1 , Ning Mao  1 , Ermei Du  1 , Zhengrong Deng  1 , Shangxiong Zhang  2 , Hanyu Zhang  1 , Meiling Fan  1 , Juan Chen  1 , Haiyan Yin  1 , Yulong Zheng  1 , Hong Sun  1 , Fuyu Yang  1 , Yixiao Xie  3
Affiliations
Free article

Effects of different additives and chopping lengths on the biosafety of Sophora Davidii silage

Shihao Liu et al. BMC Microbiol. .
Free article

Abstract

Background: Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and virulence factors (VFs) represent growing threats to global public health. Sophora davidii silage is a common feed in livestock production, may potentially serve as a reservoir and vector for the dissemination of these genetic determinants. The biosafety risks associated with Sophora davidii silage remain poorly evaluated. Consequently, mitigating these risks through improved processing techniques has become an urgent priority. This study systematically elucidates the effects of additives and chopping lengths on the microbial community structure, ARGs, MGEs, and VFs during the ensiling of Sophora davidii.

Results: Metagenomic analyses demonstrated that both additives and chopping length significantly influenced the biosafety profile of Sophora davidii silage. Additives markedly reduced the abundance of ARGs, MGEs, and VFs (P < 0.05). Formic acid (FA) demonstrated the most pronounced suppression, whereas cellulase (CE) was least effective. Notably, although inoculation with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP) reduced the overall abundance of these risk factors, the strain may be associated with the vanY gene in the vanB cluster, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as ISLpl1 and ISLp1, as well as specific virulence factors (VFs). Furthermore, at a 5 cm chopping length, the Control group exhibited significantly higher levels of ARGs and VFs compared to the 1 cm and 3 cm treatments (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The findings highlight the efficacy of reducing chopping length (to 1 cm) in controlling the proliferation and dissemination of ARGs, MGEs, and VFs. Moreover, the use of direct acidifying agents, particularly formic acid, offers considerable advantages in enhancing the microbial safety of silage.

Keywords: Sophora Davidii silage; Antibiotic resistance genes; Chopping length; Mobile genetic elements; Silage additives; Virulence factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics declarations. Ethics approval and consent participate.: No applicable. Consent for publication: No applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. WHO. Antibacterial agents in clinical development an analysis of the antibacterial clinical development pipeline. 2019.
    1. Hendriksen RS, Munk P, Njage P, van Bunnik B, McNally L, Lukjancenko O, et al. Global monitoring of antimicrobial resistance based on metagenomics analyses of urban sewage. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):1124.
    1. Wu L, Zhang W, Zhao W. Privacy preserving data aggregation for smart grid with user anonymity and designated recipients. Symmetry (Basel). 2022;14(5):847.
    1. Davies J, Davies D. Origins and evolution of antibiotic resistance. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2010;74(3):417–33.
    1. Partridge SR, Kwong SM, Firth N, Jensen SO. Mobile genetic elements associated with antimicrobial resistance. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2018;31(4).

LinkOut - more resources