Silage of abandoned-growing branches of Lycium barbarum

Abandoned-growing branches are a waste of Lycium barbarum planting but contain abundant nutrients and medicinal ingredients. Using abandoned-growing branches of L. barbarum as a medicine additive silage is a way to turn waste into treasure. In this paper, molasses, bran, and corn flour were added as silage sugar sources and ‘Ya xin’, ‘Jun an jiao bao’, ‘Yijiayi,’ and ‘Nongfukang’ as commercial silage bacteria. By comparing the sensory evaluation scores, nutrient components, and medicinal components of the different sugar sources and microbial silages, we set out to find silage bacteria and sugar sources suitable for L. barbarum abandoned-growing branches silage. The results showed there were no significant differences in the content of acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and ammonia nitrogen in the three kinds of sugar source silage (P > 0.05). The highest content of crude protein (1.18%), crude ash (12.77%), dry matter (30.5%), lactic acid (123.75 μg·g ^–1), polysaccharide (27.89 mg·g^–1), betaine (6.47 mg·g^–1), and total flavonoids (1.15 mg·g^–1) added to molasses were significantly higher than those of the other two treatments (P < 0.05). There was no difference between the dry matter and ammonia nitrogen content of the four kinds of microbial agents and natural silage ( P > 0.05). However, crude protein (1.96%), acid detergent fiber (75.52%), neutral detergent fiber (73.86%), water-soluble carbohydrate (259.19 mg·g ^–1), lactic acid (145.82 μg·g^–1), and polysaccharide (27.27 mg·g^–1) content were the highest in natural silage (P < 0.05). Molasses was deemed to be the best sugar source, and natural silage is the best way of using the abandoned-growing branches of L. barbarum.