Silage quality and preservation of U rtica cannabina ensiled alone and with additive treatment

Urtica cannabina ( U . cannabina ), a member of the U rticaceae family, is widely distributed throughout the temperate regions of the world and can be used as a nutritious feed for animals through the winter period. To provide high‐quality forage all year‐round, we treated freshly harvested U . cannabina without additives (control), but with corn flour ( CF ) (5:1 w/w), molasses (2, 4, and 8% fresh weight), or L alsi L D ry ( LD ) inoculant (5, 10 and 20 mg kg −1 of fresh weight). We then assessed the chemical composition, in vitro digestibility and fermentative parameters of the products after 0, 3, 5, 15, 20 and 60 d of ensiling. The results showed that: (i) U . cannabina had large quantities of protein and some essential minerals, including calcium, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper and manganese, and was particularly rich in magnesium and iron. (ii) U . cannabina can be preserved as a highly nutritious silage. No additive treatment or the LD inoculant treatments produced badly preserved silages. The 2% molasses treatment produced badly preserved silage, but 4–8% molasses produced well‐preserved silages. The CF treatment also produced well‐preserved silage. We recommend the application rates of molasses at 4–8% of fresh weight or 5:1 CF to improve U . cannabina silage.