China develops technology to turn potato vines into safe livestock feed

Chinese researchers have developed an efficient potato vine silage technology that converts potato crop residues into high-quality livestock feed. The technology was created by specialists from Qinghai Provincial Forage Technology Extension Station and the Qinghai Agricultural Waste Utilization Platform following three years of field research.

Qinghai Province grows potatoes on about 66.7 thousand hectares annually, generating more than 1 million tonnes of fresh potato vines. However, this biomass has long remained underutilized due to its high solanine content, a natural toxin that is harmful to livestock. At the same time, the region faces a chronic feed shortage and relies on costly feed shipments from other provinces.

The new technology uses specialized microbial inoculants to accelerate the breakdown of solanine while carefully controlling moisture content and compaction during the ensiling process. Researchers also recommend mixing potato vines with straw from other crops to improve nutritional balance and produce higher-quality silage.

During the trials, scientists selected two bacterial strains capable of performing efficiently under the cold conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The anaerobic fermentation process reduced solanine levels by more than 70%, lowering concentrations to 2.34–6.69 mg/kg, well within China’s feed safety standards.

A 90-day sheep feeding trial conducted in 2025 confirmed the effectiveness of the technology. Farmers reported that livestock readily consumed the silage, with no signs of poisoning, diarrhea, loss of appetite, or other adverse effects. In addition, production costs were more than twice as low as those of conventional corn silage.

Beyond the economic benefits, the technology also offers significant environmental advantages. It eliminates the need to burn or discard potato vines, reduces agricultural waste, and supports a circular farming system that links potato production, silage making, livestock farming, and the return of organic manure to fields, improving the overall sustainability of agricultural production.