| Summary: | Ensiling has been widely applied to cope with agricultural solid waste to achieve organic waste valorization and relieve environmental pressure and feedstuff shortage. In this study, co-ensiling of cabbage leaf byproduct and rice straw was performed with inoculation of <i>Lactiplantibacillus</i><i>plantarum</i> (LP) to investigate the effects of inoculation on ensiling performance and microflora profiles. Compared to the control, LP inoculation preserved more dry matter (DM) content (283.4 versus 270.9 g·kg<sup>−1</sup> fresh matter (FM) on day 30), increased lactic acid (LA) content (52.1 versus 35.8 g·kg<sup>−1</sup> dry matter on day 15), decreased pH (3.55 versus 3.79 on day 15), and caused accumulation of acetic acid (AA), butyric acid (BA), and ammonia. The investigation showed that LP inoculation modified microflora composition, especially resisting potential pathogens and enriching more lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Moreover, <i>Lactiplantibacillus</i> and <i>Lacticaseibacillus</i> were identified as the keystone taxa that influenced physicochemical properties and interactions in microflora. They were also the main functional species that directly restrained undesirable microorganisms (<i>p</i> < 0.05), rather than indirectly working via metabolite inhibition and substrate competition (<i>p</i> > 0.05). The results of this present study improve the understanding of the underlying effect of LP inoculation on improving silage quality and facilitate the bio-transformation of cabbage byproduct and rice straw as animal feed.
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