Development of a New Method for Preparation and Conservation of Tea Grounds Silage

Abstract

A method the processing and conserving of tea grounds silage was developed. Tea grounds contained about 10E6 (cfu/g of fresh matter) aerobic bacteria, 10E3 to 10E4 mould and yeast, but lactic acid bacteria counts were below the limit of detection (<10 cfu/g of fresh matter). Water-soluble carbohydrates were consistently at or below the detectable level (0.01 g/kg of dry matter). Lactobacillus plantarum FG1, a strain selected from forage, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus SN1, from a commercial inoculant, were used along with acremonium cellulase (AUS) as additives to tea grounds for silage preparation. After 125 days of fermentation, silages treated with AUS and strain FG1 or SN1 were well preserved and exhibited significantly (P<0.05) lower pH values and significantly (P<0.05) higher content of lactic acid as compared to the control. All silages showed high contents of protein, tannin, caffeine, carotin and vitamin E. The results confirmed that tea grounds are a potential new resource for livestock feed.