Abstract
ABSTRACTThe objective of the study was to determine the in vitro rumen fermentation end-products of 10 browse species. Serum bottles containing 500 mg of substrate, 10 ml of sheep rumen fluid and 40 ml of buffered medium were incubated for 24 h. After incubation, pH, methane and volatile fatty acid (VFA) productions were recorded. There were differences among feedstuffs (p < .05) in pH and VFA production. Astragalus gombo resulted in the highest and Stipa tenacissima in the lowest VFA production. Gas production was highest for Medicago sativa and lowest for S. tenacissima. Methane production (ml/g DM incubated) varied greatly. The lowest methane production was for S. tenacissima and Arthrocnemum macrostachyum (11.4 and 11.5 ml/g DM, respectively) and the highest for M. sativa and A. gombo (25.8 and 22.7 ml/g DM, respectively). The differences among species shrank when methane was expressed per ml of total gas produced or per mol of VFA produced. This indicates that a lower methane production would be due to a low fermentability of the substrate incubated, rather than to a specific inhibitory effect on methanogenesis. Hence, the 10 browse species studied herein would show little potential for mitigating ruminal methane production.
Highlights
Ruminants can digest ligno-cellulosic feeds as a major component of their diet to get energy for maintenance and production
Methane produced during anaerobic fermentation in the rumen represents a loss of 2–12% of the gross energy contained in the feed ingested, and contributes to emissions of greenhouse gases into the environment (Moss 1993; Unger et al 2010)
The diet determines the balance of the microbes existing in the rumen and the fermentation characteristics, including methane production
Summary
Ruminants can digest ligno-cellulosic feeds as a major component of their diet to get energy for maintenance and production. They are able to utilize non-protein nitrogen sources for the synthesis of microbial protein in the rumen. This largest digestive compartment hosts a diverse and unique microbial ecosystem composed of anaerobic bacteria, archaea, protozoa and fungi. Methane produced during anaerobic fermentation in the rumen represents a loss of 2–12% of the gross energy contained in the feed ingested, and contributes to emissions of greenhouse gases into the environment (Moss 1993; Unger et al 2010). Ruminants fed forages rich in structural carbohydrate produce more methane than those fed concentrate diets containing higher levels of non-structural carbohydrates (Sauvant & Giger-Reverdin 2009)
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