Animal Science Journal (2016) ••, ••–•• doi:10.1111/asj.

12690

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Adding sweet potato vines improve the quality of rice

straw silage
Ping LI, Shuren JI, Qian WANG, Mengzhen QIN, Chen HOU and Yixin SHEN
1
College of Grassland Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

ABSTRACT
Rice straw and sweet potato vines are the main by-products of agricultural crops, and their disposal creates problems for the
environment in the south of China. In order to establish an easy method for making rice straw silage successfully, experiments
were conduct to evaluate fermentation quality and nutritive value of rice straw silages ensiled with or without sweet potato vine.
Paddy rice straw (PR) and upland rice straw (UP) were ensiled alone or with sweet potato vines (SP) by a ratio of 1:1 (fresh matter
basis), over 3 years. Compared with rice straw silages ensiled alone, the mixed-material silages (PR + SP, UR + SP) showed higher
fermentation quality with lower propionic acid content and NH3-N ratio of total N, and higher (P < 0.05) concentrations of lactic
acid and acetic acid, resulting in decrease (P < 0.05) of dry matter loss and higher (P < 0.05) in vitro ruminal dry matter digestion.
When the fermentation quality, chemical composition and in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics were considered, ensiling
would be an effective way of utilization of rice straw and sweet potato vines in the regions where rice and sweet potato are
harvested at same season, and the sweet potato vines have the potential to improve rice straw fermentation quality with low
water soluble carbohydrate content in south of China.

Key words: fermentation quality, in vitro ruminal dry matter digestion, rice straw, silage, sweet potato vine.

INTRODUCTION animals and humans for grains (maize and soya bean)
(Nyaata et al. 2000). The value of sweet potato vines as
Rice is the main crop in agricultural regions in south of
feed supplements is enhanced by high palatability (Frye
China, there are about 2268 million tonnes of rice straw
et al. 1948), moderate levels of crude protein (CP) and
produced each year. However, most of the straw is left
water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) (Rusoff et al. 1950),
unused or burned after harvest, and its disposal has re-
and high levels of digestibility (>62%) (Ffoulkes et al.
sulted in seriously environment problems (Hun 2000).
1997; Ali et al. 2015). However, sweet potato vines are
One of the main ways to alleviate the pollution from rice
subject to rapid deterioration due to high moisture con-
straw is to use it as ruminant feed, thereby contributing
tent, resulting in high costs in the manufacturing process
to enhanced meat and dairy supplies for people. A policy
(Hall et al. 1954).
aim of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Repub-
Ensiling is an efficient way to preserve forage nutri-
lic of China was to increase the feed ratio of straw to
ents. During ensiling, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) convert
55% in 2010 (Guo et al. 2002). However, rice straw is
WSC to organic acids, mainly lactic acid under anaero-
mainly composed of cellulose and lignin, and character-
bic conditions. As a result, pH decreases and the
ized by low concentrations of digestible nutrients, which
forages are preserved from undesirable microorgan-
prevents or depresses its use as feed (Cai et al. 1998; Devi
isms. Previous studies in Japan and Korea have shown
et al. 2008; Fang et al. 2011).
that whole rice crop silage can be produced (Cai 2004;
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is among the major
Kim et al. 2006), but ensiling may not lead to a high-
food crops in the world and is cultivated in all tropical
quality silage due to low WSC content and high levels
and subtropical regions, particularly in Asia, Africa and
of dry matter (DM) content (Enishi & Shijimaya 1998;
the Pacific (Dhir et al. 2009; De Moura et al. 2015). Asia
Li et al. 2010).
and Africa account for 95% of the world’s production
(EI Sheikiha & Ray 2015). The crop is mainly grown
for tubers, but a large volume of sweet potato vines
Correspondence: Yixin Shen, College of Grassland Science,
(stems and leaves) are left after harvesting (Hall et al. Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
1954). The vines can be used as an alternative feed re- (Email: yixinshen2015@163.com)
source for ruminants to reduce competition between Received 25 July 2015; accepted for publication 17 June 2016.

© 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science

P. LI et al.
To the best of our knowledge, upland rice, paddy rice
and sweet potato are major crops harvested in autumn
in south of China, and the fermentation quality and
feeding value of rice straw silage can be improved by
thermo or chemical treatment and additives application
at ensiling (Van Soest 2006; Sarnklong et al. 2010;
Ghasemi et al. 2013), but there is little information on
upland rice straw or paddy rice straw ensiled with sweet
potato vines. Thus, it is necessary to make clear whether
the fermentation quality, chemical composition and
in vitro ruminal dry matter digestbility of rice straw
silages are improved by application of sweet potato vines
in the south of China.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ensiling materials
In experiments in 2009 and 2010, paddy rice straw (PR,
Oryza sativa L. cv. nanjing No.46, provided from Jiangsu
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, transplanted 20 June
2009 and 11 June 2010), upland rice straw (UR, O. sativa
L. cv. handao No.277 provided from China Agricultural
University, transplanted on 15 June 2009 and 19 June
2010) and sweet potato vines (SP, Dioscorea esculenta
(Lour.) Burkill cv. sushu No.8, provided from Nanjing
Institute of Agricultural Science, transplanted on 20
May) used for ensilage were grown in Funan county of
Anhui province in China, and harvested on 28 October
and 17 October, respectively. In experiment of 2012,
PR (transplanted on 21 June), UR (transplanted on 23
May) and SP (planted on 26 May) used for fermentation
change observations were grown in Huai’an county of
Jiangsu province in China, and harvested on 25 October.
Silage making
PR, UR and SP were chopped using a laboratory chopper
(HF ZC-0.4, QuFuHui Rich Machinery Equipment Co.,
Ltd., Shanghai, China) at lengths of 2-3 cm. The mate-
rials were packed in 30 cm × 30 cm polythene bags to
produce a 1.0 kg package each. The silo bags were heat
sealed under vacuum using a vacuum packing machine
(SJ-400, Shanghai Precision Machinery Manufacturing
Co., Ltd.), and stored in a dark room at ambient temper-
ature. In experiments of 2009 and 2010, four silages in-
cluding PR, UR, PR + SP (1:1, fresh matter basis) and UR
+ SP (1:1, fresh matter basis), were all established with
three replications, and opened for analysis of fermenta-
tion quality and chemical composition after ensiling for
60 days. In the 2012 experiment, the four silages were
all established with 24 replications, and three replica-
tions each silage were randomly opened for determina-
tion of fermentation quality and chemical composition
on 0, 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 30 and 60 days after ensiling.
Chemical analysis
Chemical analysis was performed in triplicate. The dry
matter content of fresh materials and silages after
© 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science
deactivation of enzymes were determined by oven dry-
ing for 48 h at 65°C. CP was determined by the Kjeldahl
method (AOAC 1990). Neutral detergent fiber (NDF)
and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were determined accord-
ing to the methods of Van Soest and Wine (1991) using
an Ankom 2000 fiber analyzer (Ankom Technology,
Fairport, NY, USA). During the analysis procedure of
NDF, heat-stable alpha amylase and sodium sulfite were
added. The NDF and ADF were expressed with residual
ash. WSC was determined by anthrone reaction rate as-
say (Koehler 1952). The dry matter loss and gas loss was
calculated as follows:
dry matter loss ðg=kg DMÞ ¼ 1000  ð1-BtYt=AXÞ;
gas loss ðg=kg DMÞ ¼ 1000  ðA-BtÞ=ðAXÞ;
where A is the weight of fresh forages in silo bags before
ensiling; Bt is the fresh matter weight of silages ensiling
for t days ; X is the dry matter content of fresh forages
(g/kg DM) in silo bags before ensiling; Yt is the dry mat-
ter content (g/kg DM) of silages ensiling for t days.
Ammonia-N (NH3-N) was determined in the silages
by extraction of 20 g frozen samples with 180 mL dis-
tilled water for 3 min in a Stomacher blender (Broderick
& Kang 1980). The pH value of silage was measured by a
pH meter (3-Star 310P-02, Thermo Electron, Boston,
USA). After centrifugation (10 000 × g, 15 min, 4°C),
the supernatant was analyzed for lactic acid (LA), acetic
acid (AA), propionic acid (PA), butyric acid (BA) and
ethanol. The concentrations of LA, AA, PA and BA were
determined by high performance liquid chromatogra-
phy (HPLC, KC-811 column, Shodex; Shimadzu Co.,
Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; oven temperature 50°C; mobile
phase 3 mmol/L pechlorate solution; flow rate 1.0 mL/
min; flame photometric detector 210 nm; sample size
5.0 μL). Ethanol was measured by gas chromatography
(GC, AT-2000 column, ATEO; Techcomp Ltd., Beijing,
China; column temperature 10 °C; injection tempera-
ture 130°C; carrier gas, nitrogen; Flame lonization de-
tector 130°C; sample size 1.0 μL).
In vitro ruminal DM digestibility and gas
production
The research was conducted in accordance with the
Declaration of Helsinki and with the Guide for the Care
and Use of Laboratory Animals as adopted and pro-
mulgated by the United National Institutes of Health.
All experimental protocols were approved by the
Review Committee for the Use of Human or Animal
Subjects of Nanjing Agricultural University. In vitro ru-
minal DM digestibility (IVDMD) of silages was deter-
mined using a calibrated glass syringe gas production
system by the method of Tilley and Terry (1963). In
brief, the rumen fluid collected from a healthy, non-
lactating Holstein cow with permanent rumen cannulae,
was strained through double-layer gauze and mixed
with a buffer solution as described by Menke and
Animal Science Journal (2016) ••, ••–••
 RICE STRAW SILAGE

Steingass (1988). Dried samples (about 0.2 g dry weight)
were put into calibrated glass syringes (100 mL), sepa-
rately. The syringes were prewarmed at 39°C before in-
jection of rumen fluid-buffer mixture (45 mL). The
samples were put in an incubator bottle and incubated
in a 39°C water bath. Readings of gas production were
recorded at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 h after incubation. Af-
ter the in vitro ruminal digestion process, samples were
gently rinsed with cold tap water and dried at 65°C for
48 h to determine IVDMD. Each measurement was per-
formed in triplicate. Cumulative gas production data
were fitted to the model of Φrskov and McDonald
(1979): y = a + b(1-e-ct), where y is the gas production at
time t; a is the gas production from the immediately sol-
uble fraction (mL); b is the gas production from the in-
soluble fraction (mL); c is the gas production rate
constant (mL/h); a + b is the potential gas production
(mL); t is the incubation time (h).
Statistical Analysis
Factorial analysis of variance was applied to the results
with type of rice straw silage (R), ensiled alone or with
sweet potato vine (A) and their interaction (R × A) with
year as a random effect, in the General Line Model of
SPSS (SPSS 17.0 program SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
In addition, one-way analysis of variance was applied
to analyze the chemical composition of ensiling mate-
rials, and the effect of storage period on fermentation
Table 1 Chemical composition of rice straw and sweet potato
vine as ensiling materials in 2009, 2010 and 2012
Items PR UR SP
DM (g/kg FM) 345.2a 329.4b 147.5c
WSC (g/kg DM) 15.9b 16.5b 46.8a
CP (g/kg DM) 59.0b 63.5b 87.0a
NDF (g/kg DM) 639.8a 629.1ab 595.6b
ADF (g/kg DM) 410.2b 434.7a 424.0ab
PR, paddy rice; UR, upland rice; SP, sweet potato vine; DM, dry matter;
WSC, water soluble carbohydrate; CP, crude protein; NDF, neutral de-
tergent fiber; ADF, acid detergent fiber; SEM, standard error of mean.
a-cMeans followed by different lowercase letters within a row differ at
P < 0.05.
parameters and gas production for silages in 2012 were
examined; means comparisons were generated by using
contrast statistics. Significant differences between means
were identified by Tukey’s Studentized range test in
which P < 0.05 was designated as significant.
RESULTS
Chemical composition of ensiling materials
Table 1 shows the chemical composition of ensiling ma-
terials. Upland rice straw had higher (P < 0.05) ADF
content and lower (P < 0.05) DM content compared
with paddy rice straw. There existed significant
(P < 0.05) differences in DM, WSC, CP and NDF content,
between sweet potato vine and rice straw.
Fermentation quality of silages
Table 2 shows the fermentation quality of silages. Both
PR + SP silage and UR + SP silage had lower (P < 0.05)
pH value, NH3-N ratio of total N and propionic acid con-
tent, and higher (P < 0.05) concentrations of lactic acid
and acetic acid, compared with PR silage or UR silage.
The addition of SP increased ethanol content in PR silage
and decreased (P < 0.05) butyric acid content in UR
silage and PR silage.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the fermentation dynamics
of silages during ensiling. The lactic and acetic acids
production and pH decline in PR silage and UR silage
was (P < 0.05) lower than other silages. Compared
with PR silage or UR silage, UR + SP silage had lower
(P > 0.05) ethanol content during the first 15 days of
ensiling, and PR + SP silage had higher (P < 0.05) etha-
SEM nol content in the next 45 days. All silages showed
17.8 decreasing trend in WSC and increasing trend of
3.0 NH3-N production, DM loss and gas loss during first
2.9 15 days of ensiling, but PR + SP silage and UR + SP
7.7 silage had higher (P < 0.05) NH3-N content and lower
4.4 (P < 0.05) gas loss in the next 45 days.
Chemical composition of silages
Table 3 shows the chemical composition of silages. The
effect of SP on DM content was significant, and PR + SP

Table 2 Fermentation characteristics of rice straw silages ensiled alone or with sweet potato vine in 2009, 2010 and 2012
Items PR UR SEM R A R×A
-SP +SP -SP +SP
pH 5.03a 4.51b 5.19a 4.39b 0.1 NS *** NS
Lactic acid (g/kg DM) 5.4c 13.9b 5.3c 15.7a 0.8 NS *** NS
Acetic acid (g/kg DM) 7.6b 12.0a 8.9b 14.1a 0.6 NS *** NS
Propionic acid (g/kg DM) 1.4a 0.3b 1.3a 0.2b 0.1 NS *** NS
Butyric acid (g/kg DM) 3.7a 2.0ab 3.0a 1.2b 0.3 NS ** NS
Ammonia-N (g/kg TN) 165.8a 59.1b 166.3a 47.8b 10.7 NS *** NS
Ethanol (g/kg DM) 11.6b 14.5a 13.0a 13.1a 0.3 NS ** **
PR, paddy rice; UR, upland rice; SP, sweet potato vine; +SP/-SP, rice straw silage (R) ensiled with or without SP; A, rice straw silage ensiled with SP; DM,
dry matter; SEM, standard error of mean; TN, total nitrogen. a-cMeans followed by different lowercase letters within a row differ at P < 0.05. NS, no
significant. **P < 0.01 ***P < 0.001.

Animal Science Journal (2016) ••, ••–•• © 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science
P. LI et al.

Figure 1 pH, lactic acid content, acetic acid content and ethanol production of paddy rice straw silage (○, PR), upland rice straw silage
(□, UR), PR + SP silage (△) and UR + SP silage (▽) during ensiling in 2012. DM, dry matter; SEM, standard error of the mean.

Figure 2 Water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) and ammonia-N (NH3-N) concentration, dry matter loss and gas loss of paddy rice straw
silage (○, PR), upland rice straw silage (□, UR), PR + SP silage (△) and UR + SP silage (▽) during ensiling in 2012. DM, dry matter; SEM,
standard error of the mean; TN, total nitrogen.

silage and UR + SP silage had lower DM content com-
pared with PR silage and UR silage, respectively. The
SP addition increased (P < 0.05) residual WSC content
of PR silage. PR + SP silage and UR + SP silage respec-
tively had higher (P < 0.05) CP content, lower
(P < 0.05) NDF and ADF content, compared with PR
silage or UR silage.
Gas production and IVDMD of silages in
2012
Figure 3 illustrates the gas production profiles of si-
lages. There were significant differences (P < 0.05)
among silages in gas volumes produced from diges-
tion throughout the incubation period. The gas

© 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science Animal Science Journal (2016) ••, ••–••
 RICE STRAW SILAGE

Table 3 Chemical composition of rice straw silages ensiled alone or with sweet potato vine in 2009, 2010 and 2012
Items PR UR SEM R A R×A
-SP +SP -SP +SP
DM (g/kg FM) 328.6a 234.1b 310.2a 226.6b 8.4 NS *** NS
WSC (g/kg DM) 9.2b 14.6a 9.8ab 11.3ab 0.9 NS * NS
CP (g/kg DM) 57.4b 77.3a 57.9b 75.6a 2.5 NS *** NS
NDF (g/kg DM) 653.0a 584.7b 645.4a 598.0b 5.8 NS *** NS
ADF (g/kg DM) 434.5a 399.7b 441.6a 408.0b 5.1 NS *** NS
PR, paddy rice; UR, upland rice; SP, sweet potato vine; +SP/-SP, rice straw silage (R) ensiled with or without SP; A, rice straw silage ensiled with SP; DM,
dry matter; WSC, water soluble carbohydrate; CP, crude protein; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; ADF, acid detergent fiber. a-bMeans followed by differ-
ent lowercase letters within a row differ at P < 0.05. NS, no significant. *P < 0.05. ***P < 0.001.

Figure 3 Gas production of paddy rice straw silage (○, PR),
upland rice straw silage (□, UR), PR + SP silage (△) and UR + SP
silage (▽) during ensiling in 2012. DM, dry matter; SEM, standard
error of the mean.
production kinetics and some estimated parameters
are listed in Table 4. The SP addition increased
(P < 0.05) gas producing from soluble fractions (a)
and potential gas production (a + b). The PR silage
had lower (P < 0.05) gas production rate (c) com-
pared with other silages. Both PR + SP silage and
UR + SP silage had higher (P < 0.05) gas production
and IVDMD at inoculation of 96 h, compared with
PR silage and UR silage.
DISCUSSION
Effective utilization of agricultural by-products such as
rice straw and sweet potato vine is important in rumi-
nant livestock production. The initial chemical composi-
tion of materials varied from year to year, and the same
changes occurred within silages. Data in our 3-year
study proved it was an efficient practice to ensile rice
straw with sweet potato vine, for the advancing the fer-
mentation process and the better preservation of
nutrients.
WSC content and microbial composition of ensiling
materials were important for high quality silage (Seale
et al. 1986; Zahar et al. 2002). In the present study, addi-
tion of sweet potato vine improved the fermentation
quality of rice straw silages with lower pH value and bu-
tyric acid content, and higher concentrations of lactic
acid and acetic acid, compared with rice straw ensiled
alone. One possible explanation for this result may be
that the inclusion of sweet potato vine was effective to
compensate for the insufficient WSC in rice straw, which
ensured vigorous growth of LAB to produce enough fer-
mentation acid at the early stage of ensiling for inhibition
of undesirable microorganisms (yeast, mold and aerobic
bacteria). Similar results are reported by Muck and
O’kiely (1992), Danner et al. (2003) and Schmidit and
Kung (2010). Recently, additives such as lactic acid bac-
teria (Fang et al. 2012) and molasses (Cao et al. 2010)
have been used to improve the fermentation of rice

Table 4 Gas production kinetics and IVDMD of rice straw silages ensiled alone or with sweet potato vine in 2012
Items PR UR SEM R A R×A
-SP +SP -SP +SP
a (mL/g DM) -12.7c 16.2a -18.4d 11.3b 4.5 *** *** NS
b (mL/g DM) 203.4ab 209.8a 196.4b 204.1ab 1.9 NS * NS
a + b (mL/g DM) 190.7c 226.0a 178.0d 215.4b 5.9 ** *** NS
c (mL/h) 0.01b 0.02a 0.02a 0.02a 0.0 ** ** NS
GP (mL/g DM) 146.1b 195.6a 154.2b 187.8a 6.5 NS *** *
IVDMD (g/kg DM) 377.3b 464.3a 374.8b 451.2a 12.9 NS *** NS
PR, paddy rice; UR, upland rice; SP, sweet potato vine; +SP/-SP, rice straw silage (R) ensiled with or without SP; A, rice straw silage ensiled with SP; a is
the gas production from the immediately soluble fraction; b is the gas production from the insoluble fraction; c is the gas production rate constant; GP,
gas production; DM, dry matter; IVDMD, in vitro ruminal DM digestibility. a-dMeans followed by different lowercase letters within a row differ at
P < 0.05. NS, no significant. *P < 0.05 **P < 0.01 ***P < 0.001.

Animal Science Journal (2016) ••, ••–•• © 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science
P. LI et al.
straw silage. In addition, soil and climate affect the natu-
ral population of lactic acid bacteria associated with si-
lage fermentation (Pang et al. 2011). In our study, the
pH value in rice straw silages ensiled with sweet potato
vines was comparable with that in rice straw silages
treated with lactic acid bacteria or urea (Cao et al. 2010;
Fang et al. 2012), but the lactic and acetic acid contents
were lower than that from rice straw silages treated with
molasses (Tohno et al. 2012). These indicate that the
WSC content of ensiling materials determined the fer-
mentation quality of silages, especially for rice straw. In
contrast to upland rice straw silage ensiled with sweet
potato vine, paddy rice straw silage ensiled with sweet
potato vine had lower lactic acid content. This may be
due to synergetic effects of chemical and microbial com-
position of three agricultural by-products. However, the
mechanism underlying this phenomenon is not clear.
The efficient conservation of forage crops as silage
with minimal losses during storage is an important factor
in providing ruminant livestock with essential nutrients.
Rice straw silages ensiled with sweet potato vines had
high WSC and CP content. Sweet potato vines as ingre-
dients, are widely used in fodder silages (Dhir et al. 2009;
De Moura et al. 2015). The addition of this ingredient re-
duced DM loss and gas loss during ensiling. The DM loss
increased in all silages during the first 15 days of ensiling,
which may have partly resulted from increase of gas loss.
Poor fermentation and plant (or undesirable microor-
ganism) respiration led to higher NH3-N ratio of total N
in rice straw silages ensiled alone. According to the study
of Oshima and McDonald (1978), NH3-N concentration
in high-quality silage is below 90 g/kg total N. Therefore,
it can be deduced that addition of sweet potato vines
enhanced the preservation of protein during ensiling.
The in vitro gas production was initially used to predict
rumen degradability of cattle feeds, which has gained
wide acceptance in research on nutritional evaluation
(Muck et al. 2007; Negesse et al. 2009; Van Ranst et al.
2013). There exists a correlation between the nutritional
content and in vitro cumulative gas production (Zhou
et al. 2011), but the chemical components-related gas
volume or dynamic parameters are different (Li et al.
2015). The negative value obtained for the gas produc-
tion of soluble fraction (a) indicated the in vitro fermen-
tation process had a lag phase in rice straw silages
ensiled alone. This is similar to the study of Li et al.
(2015) which reported the low quality feedstuffs with
high fiber content and low CP content were difficult to
metabolized by microbes, resulting in the lag of in vitro
fermentation and gas production. Compared with rice
straw silages ensiled alone, the insoluble fraction (b)
and potential gas production (a + b) were increased in
rice straw silages ensiled with sweet potato vines, proba-
bly due to more digestive components of sweet potato
vine. The gas production rate constant (c) of rice straw si-
lages was lower than that from other studies (Santos
et al. 2010), which may show considerable losses of
© 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science
soluble sugars, thereby leading to increased concentra-
tions of other constituents in rice straw silages, particu-
larly fiber components.
Differences in the IVDMD also appeared to depend on
chemical compositions, and the reduction in fiber con-
tent (NDF and ADF) for rice straw with sweet potato
vines resulted in the large increase in degradable DM.
Cao et al. (2010) found that in total mixed ration silages
prepared with whole crop rice there was an insignificant
increasing trend in IVDMD with cellulase and carbohy-
drate treatments. Sahoo and Walli (2008) reported that
diet with molasses had higher ruminal DM digestibility.
Cai et al. (2003) reported that IVDMD was higher in
silage with LAB than that without LAB due to LAB caus-
ing reduction of DM loss in silage fermentation. How-
ever, there are other results that ammonia, cellulase
and their combination increased significanlty the
in vitro degradation of rice straw (Eun et al. 2006). This
illustrates that fermentation substrate and LAB from en-
siling materials affect the fermentation quality, thereby
determining the IVDMD of forages. In the present study,
the IVDMD of PR silage, UR silage and sweet potato vine
silage was 37.7% DM, 37.5% DM and 56.7% DM (not
shown in article), respectively. Based on the DM ratio
of rice straw : sweet potato vines in PR + SP silage
(68.3:31.7) and UR + SP silage (67.7:32.3) and assuming
that the IVDMD of rice straw silage changed with inclu-
sion of sweet potato vines, IVDMD of PR + SP silage and
UR + SP silage could be estimated as 43.7% DM and
43.6% DM, respectively. In fact, these values (43.7%
DM and 43.6% DM) were slightly lower than the ob-
served IVDMD values for PR + SP silage (46.4% DM)
and UR + SP silage (45.1% DM). It means that IVDMD
of rice straw silage could be improved by the addition
of sweet potato vine, to some extent (6.2% and 3.4%).
This indicates that the associative effect of rice straw
and sweet potato vines at ensiling was not only to
preserve nutrients in rice straw, but also increase nutri-
ent supply to rumen microbes from sweet potato vine.
Conclusions
Ensiling would be an effective way of utilizing rice straw
and sweet potato vines in the regions where rice and
sweet potato are harvested in the same season. Adding
sweet potato vine was effective in improving the fer-
mentation quality of rice straw silages with lower pH
value, NH3-N ratio of total N and propionic acid content,
and higher concentrations of lactic acid and acetic acid. It
also influenced the chemical composition and in vitro ru-
men fermentation characteristics of rice straw silages.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are gratefully to Professor Masahiko Hirata,
Miyazaki University, Japan for his helpful comments
on the draft of this paper. This research was sponsored
by the Agriculture Program of New Species, New
Animal Science Journal (2016) ••, ••–••

Technology and Renewal of Model in Jiangsu Province
of China (SXGC[2014]304) and National Key Technolo-
gies Research and Development Program of China
(2009BADA6B06).
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