ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Food Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1565951
Impact of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum on the Fermentation Quality, Nutritional Enhancement, and Microbial Dynamics of Whole Plant Soybean Silage
Provisionally accepted
He Meng1,2
Yuwen Xu1,3
Lin Wang1Jianping Wang4Bing Wang1Huimin Wu1Donghui Hou1
Sui Wang5Xiaohong Tong1,2
Yan Jiang1,2,6*Shaodong Wang1,2*- 1College of Agriculture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Soybean Biology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Yunnan Province, China
- 3Beidahuang Group Heilongjiang Tangyuan Farm Co., Ltd., Jiamusi, China
- 4Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
- 5National Key Laboratory of Smart Farm Technologies and Systems, Harbin, China
- 6Heilongjiang Provincial Green Food Science Research Institute, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
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Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an important leguminous crop with rich nutrients and wide uses, yet soybean straw is often treated as waste in many areas without sufficient regard for its nutritional value. For the sustainable utilization of biomass resources, this study assessed the fermentation quality, microbial communities, and metabolites of whole plant soybean (WPS) silage with and without Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP) over different fermentation periods of 7, 15, 30, 60, and 90 days. With LP, there was a significant increase in dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content of silage (P < 0.01) and a significant decrease in pH (P < 0.01). Incorporating LP into WPS silage significantly elevated lactic acid (LA) concentration, thereby improving fermentation quality. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that LP inoculation significantly altered bacterial diversity and composition, notably increasing the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and promoting beneficial shifts in the microbial community during silage fermentation. Notably, LP treatment significantly promoted lysine biosynthesis, a key essential amino acid pathway, thereby contributing to the nutritional enhancement of the silage. Results showed that adding LP to WPS at ensiling can improve silage microbial community structure optimize metabolic processes, produce superior metabolites, and enhance the silage's fermentation quality and nutritional value, after 60 days of fermentation. In summary, WPS silage with LP addition could serve as a promising strategy for preserving high-protein forage silage.
Keywords: Soybean, Silage, lactiplantibacillus plantarum, bacterial community, Metabolites
Received: 24 Jan 2025; Accepted: 30 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Meng, Xu, Wang, Wang, Wang, Wu, Hou, Wang, Tong, Jiang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yan Jiang, College of Agriculture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
Shaodong Wang, College of Agriculture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China
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