Ensiling of rice straw enhances the nutritive quality, improves average daily gain, reduces in vitro methane production and increases ruminal bacterial diversity in growing Hu lambs

To ensile rice straw (ENRS), a combination of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), consisting of Lactobacillus plantarum, L. buchneri and Pediococcus acidilactici at a ratio of 2:1:1 was added to rice straw (RS), and stored for 42 days at room temperature. We examined: 1) the nutritive quality of ENRS; 2) in vitro rumen fermentation parameters and microbiota composition with ENRS as substrate; and, 3) serum metabolites and average daily gain (ADG) of growing Hu lambs consuming ENRS. Ensiling of rice straw increased in vitro neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) degradabilities (both P