Rumen hydrogenation of long-chain fatty acids from fish meal

In one in vitro study Ashes et al. (1992) reported that C20 and C22 fatty acids (FA) from fish oil were not hydrogenated to any significant extent by rumen microorganisms. However, to our knowledge, no measurement on hydrogenation has been performed on fishmeal (FM) FA. The aim of this experiment was to study the in vivo and in situ rumen hydrogenation of long-chain FA of two different FM: FMl (60 g FA/g DM) and FM2 (85 g FA/g DM).Six sheep fitted with rumen cannulae and single duodenal cannulae were fed every 2 hours, receiving 1 kg/d of a 60:40 hay:concentrate diet, either alone (Control; C) or supplemented with 40 g FM/d (FMl and FM2). The experiment was carried out over four periods (two sheep received one of the diets in each period) and Cr-NDF was used as a marker to estimate duodenal flow. Data were subjected to analysis of variance using the ANOVA procedure of the Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS, 1994).