Valorization of dietary lemon pomace waste to enhance lucerne silage composition and quality characteristics, and ruminal biogas production and fermentation

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of adding various levels of waste sour lemon pomace to lucerne on the properties and ruminal gas production of silage. Levels of 0 (Control), 25 (L1), 50 (L2), 75 (L3), and 100 (L4) % lemon pomace were replaced by lucerne for silage preparation and silenced for 60 days. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications (3 silos per treatment). After opening the silos, pH and dry matter were measured immediately, and the dried samples were kept at -20 until further tests. The silage pH decreased with the addition of lemon pomace compared to the control (p < 0.05). Total silage volatile fatty acids and dry matter content increased with adding lemon pomace. The results of gas production also showed that lemon pomace increased the in vitro gas production volume. Adding lemon pomace to lucerne silage due to the high pectin content in these agricultural wastes caused a rapid decrease of silage pH and an acidic environment. It prevented the growth of non-beneficial bacterial species. The obtained data showed that waste sour lemon has a good potential to use as a livestock feedstuff that can be useful in reducing the cost of ruminant production and preventing environmental pollution.