Abstract
ABSTRACTThe present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tea (Camellia sinensis) seed saponins (TSS) on in vitro rumen fermentation with different forage to concentrate ratios in the in vitro gas production technique. Experimental treatments were a low forage diet (forage: concentrate = 30:70), a medium forage diet (forage: concentrate = 50:50) and a high forage diet (forage: concentrate = 70:30). TSS was added at levels of 0.0%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.8%, 0.9% and 1.0% of substrate. Protozoal count, ammonia-N production and methane production decreased linearly up to the dose level of 0.8% in all the substrates. The maximum reduction obtained was 54.6%, 57.2% and 60.6% for protozoal counts; 29%, 33% and 36% for methane production; and 36.6%, 36.6% and 33.8% for ammonia-N production at low, medium and high forage diets, respectively. Net 24 h gas production, short chain fatty acid production, metabolizable energy value increased and in vitro true dry matter and organic matter digestibility significantly decreased due to addition of saponins. Results suggest that TSS has the potential to reduce methane production and positively impact rumen fermentation across different forage to concentrate ratios.
Highlights
Excessive production of greenhouse gas (GHG) has been cited by many scientists world over as responsible for climate change
Methane production during enteric fermentation from ruminants is one of the important emission sources and 2.7 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent per annum GHG emission was produced in the year 2005 (FAO 2013)
Reduction in methane may be partially due to suppression of protozoal population as their numbers were decreased by 13.1% and 16.4% on addition of 0.27% and 0.53% tea saponin of total substrate, respectively, in the faunated rumen fluid but not in the defaunated rumen fluid (Hu, Liu et al 2005)
Summary
Excessive production of greenhouse gas (GHG) has been cited by many scientists world over as responsible for climate change. Methane production during enteric fermentation from ruminants is one of the important emission sources and 2.7 gigatonnes CO2-equivalent per annum GHG emission was produced in the year 2005 (FAO 2013). Jayanegara et al (2014) observed in a meta-analysis study that despite large structural diversity, addition of saponin significantly reduced in vitro methane emission. They reported that higher levels of saponin in the diet did not negatively influence digestibility. There are reports which suggest that forage to concentrate ratio is one of the primary factors which affect the effect of saponin supplementation (Goel et al 2008; Gurbuz 2009; Manatbay et al 2014) on rumen fermentation and animal production. The present experiment was conducted to test the effect of saponin extracts of tea (Camellia sinensis) seed on rumen fermentation and methane production by using the in vitro gas production technique (IVGPT) with three different forage to concentrate ratios and to get the best level of saponin that should be added to improve rumen fermentation
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