The ability of tanniniferous legumes to reduce methane production and enhance feed utilization in Barki rams: in vitro and in vivo evaluation

Abstract

Abstract Two experiments (in vitro and in vivo evaluation) were conducted to evaluate the ability of three different tanniniferous legumes to replace berseem hay on ruminal fermentation, digestibility and methane (CH4) emission. Berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) hay (BH) was considered as control, or replaced at 50 % with Acacia saligna (AS), Leucaena leucocephala (LL) or Atriplex halimus (AH) on a DM basis. In Experiment 1 (in vitro evaluation), in vitro ruminal degradability, gas and CH4 production were measured. In Experiment 2 (in vivo evaluation), twelve Barki rams weighing 43.29 ± 0.13 kg were randomly assigned into 4 treatments and individually fed the BH, AS and LL diets for 30 days (21 days for adaptation, 7 days for digestibility and N balance and the subsequent 2 days for CH4 measurements). Results of Experiment 1 showed that AS, LL and AH diets decreased (P