Abstract
Simple SummaryThis study aimed to determine dietary supplemental effects of nitroethanol (NEOH) in comparison with monensin on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation characteristics and methane production in feedlotting lambs. The dietary addition of NEOH in comparison with monensin presented a greater promoting effect on growth performance in feedlotting lambs by inhibiting methanogenesis more efficiently and persistently in the rumen. Although dietary NEOH or monensin addition did not affect nutrient digestibility in the whole digestion tract, they presented a distinct action mode of regulating ruminal volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and methane production.This study was conducted to determine the dietary supplemental effects of nitroethanol (NEOH) in comparison with monensin on growth performance and estimated methane (CH4) production in feedlotting lambs. Sixty male, small-tailed Chinese Han lambs were arranged at random into three dietary treatment groups: (1) a basal control diet (CTR), (2) the basal diet added with 40 mg/kg monensin (MON), (3) the basal diet added with 277 mg/kg nitroethanol (NEOH). During the 32-day lamb feeding, monensin and nitroethanol were added in period 1 (day 0–16) and then withdrawn in the subsequent period 2 (day 17–32) to determine their withdrawal effects. The average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate in the whole period ranked: NEOH > MON > CTR (p < 0.01), suggesting that the dietary addition of NEOH in comparison with monensin presented a more lasting beneficial effect on feed efficiency. Methane emission was estimated with rumen VFA production and gross energy intake. Both monensin and NEOH addition in comparison with the control remarkably decreased CH4 emission estimate (24.0% vs. 26.4% decrease; p < 0.01) as well as CH4 emission per kg ADG (8.7% vs. 14.0% decrease; p < 0.01), but the NEOH group presented obvious lasting methanogenesis inhibition when they were withdrawn in period 2. Moreover, the in vitro methanogenic activity of rumen fluids was also decreased with monensin or NEOH addition (12.7% vs. 30.5% decrease; p < 0.01). In summary, the dietary addition of NEOH in comparison with monensin presented a greater promoting effect on growth performance in feedlotting lambs by inhibiting rumen methanogenesis more efficiently and persistently.
Highlights
Methane (CH4 ), a potent greenhouse gas, originating from ruminant livestock is a growing threat to global warming [1,2], and it causes an energetic loss of up to 12% of gross energy intake for the host animal [3]
Pens of lambs were randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments with five pens per treatment: (1) a basal control diet (CTR), (2) the basal diet added with 40 mg/kg sodium monensin (MON), (3) the basal diet added with 277 mg/kg
The apparent digestibilities of dry matter basis (DM), Organic matter (OM), CP, NDF and acid detergent fibre (ADF) did not differ among three groups in period 1, and almost all of them were decreased in the subsequent period
Summary
Methane (CH4 ), a potent greenhouse gas, originating from ruminant livestock is a growing threat to global warming [1,2], and it causes an energetic loss of up to 12% of gross energy intake for the host animal [3]. Previous studies noted that some nitro compounds such as nitroethane, 2-nitroethanol, 2-nitro-1-propanol and 3-nitro-1-propionic acid were capable of inhibiting ruminal CH4 -production in vitro [4,5,6,7,8]. Among these nitro compounds, nitroethane and 2-nitro-1-propanol were confirmed in vivo for their anti-methanogenic activity [9,10]. The earlier study by Anderson et al [5] and a recent study by Zhang et al [11] reported that nitroethane and 2-nitroethanol were nearly effective in inhibiting ruminal CH4 production in vitro, it is not clear if such methanogenesis inhibition could improve feed efficiency in growing farm animals. The promoting action mode of monensin to improve energy efficiency is due to the fact that it can selectively inhibit gram-positive bacteria and shift rumen fermentation toward more propionate production and less CH4 emission [16,17]
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