DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-093-1-0142

PREPARATION AND FERMENTATION OF MIXED SILAGE OF COTTON STALK AND CORN STOVER

Gao, M.¹, Zhang, M.¹, Pang, H.¹, Tan, Z.¹, Cai, Y.¹

¹ Henan Key Laboratory of Ion-beam Green Agriculture Bioengineering, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Agriculture and Biomanufacturing, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 4540001, China

Cotton is a globally economic crop with an enormous yield of cotton stalk, which are usually difficult to prepare high-quality silage alone. To explore the high-value utilization approach of cotton stalk, this experiment designed corn stover silage mixed with cotton stalk at ratios of 0%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 100%. The inoculant Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and cellulase were added for silage preparation. The results showed that corn stover silage was good fermentation quality with pH below 4.0 and lactic acid content higher than 3% of fresh matter, while the cotton stalk silage was poor quality. With the increase in the mixing ratio of cotton stalk, the pH of the silage increased and the lactic acid content decreased. The fermentation quality was lower significantly (P < 0.05) when the mixing ratio of cotton stalk exceeded 25%. The combined addition of lactic acid bacteria and cellulase shows a bacteria-enzyme synergistic effect, improving the fermentation quality of mixed silage.

Keywords: cotton stalk, corn stover, mixed silage, fermentation quality, feed utilization technology

pages: 142-143, Published: 2026, online: 2026