Abstract
The goal of this research was to gain understanding of in vitro methane (CH4) production from the cecal contents of White Roman geese under various incubation conditions. Five experiments were conducted to ascertain the effects of i) incubation time, ii) pH, iii) the addition of formic acid to the culture media, iv) temperature, and v) the addition of salt to the nutritive liquid. Methane production increased significantly with the supplementation of formic acid in the culture fluid (Experiment III). Additionally, CH4 production Experiment V was higher than that without saline. In contrast, low CH4 production occurred under acidic conditions (pH ≦5.4) and at temperatures higher or lower than typical bird body temperature (43 °C) without formic acid and saline solution in the culture media. Since bird body temperature cannot be controlled easily, approaches such as maintaining cecum fluid at low pH and preventing the formation of formic acid by adjusting the recipes of feeds could be considered for controlling in vivo CH4 production from the intestinal tract digesta of geese.
Highlights
Among the greenhouse gases (GHGs), CH4 is a major contributor to global warming effects (Naqvi & Sejian, 2011)
The animal use protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Tunghai University (THU), Taichung, Taiwan (THU IACUC Approval Number 109-58)
For Experiments IV and V, fluids were sampled from the ceca of another twenty (10 for each experiment) 14week-old White Roman geese that were harvested at a local poultry slaughterhouse
Summary
Among the greenhouse gases (GHGs), CH4 is a major contributor to global warming effects (Naqvi & Sejian, 2011). Major CH4 emission sources include landfills, sediment, natural wetlands, flooded paddy fields, sewage treatment works, animal enteric fermentation, and anaerobic fermentation of agricultural wastes (Yang et al, 2003). Animal enteric fermentation has been considered the main source of CH4 production via the digestion processes of ruminants (e.g. cattle, goats and sheep) and non-ruminants (e.g. hogs, horses, chickens, ducks, and geese) (Du Toit et al, 2013; Rendón-Huerta et al, 2018). CH4 production from manure produced in the livestock and poultry industries is a major GHG source (Yang et al, 2003; Zhou et al, 2007; Wang et al, 2017). Geese ceca are major places for in vivo CH4 production (Chen et al, 2009; Chen et al, 2014). Chen et al (2003) showed CH4 production from caecectomized geese was only 8 - 10% of that of sham-operated geese
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