A comparison between two in vitro gas production techniques to study fermentation profiles of three foodstuffs

Abstract

Following the development of the Menke technique in 1979, the measurement of gas production in vitro has become increasingly popular for investigating the kinetics of rumen fermentation. The aim of this study was to compare the gas production profiles for three foods using two in vitro gas production techniques; the Menke et al. (1979) technique (MT) and the pressure transducer technique (PTT) (Theodorou et al., 1994). Both techniques involve recording gas production throughout the incubation of a food sample with rumen fluid. The MT incubations are made in gas-tight syringes where the volume of gas produced causes the plunger to move up the syringe barrel. The PTT involves measuring gas production in fermentation bottles using a pressure transducer and syringe assembly to measure the pressure and corresponding gas volume. As the medium to rumen fluid ratios also differ between techniques; 2:1 in the Menke technique and 9:1 in the PTT, both ratios were investigated in this study.