Ruminal inoculum activity in cattle supplemented with corn grain at different daily frequencies: evaluation using the in vitro gas-production technique

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (10) ◽  
pp. 1662
Author(s):  
G. Antúnez ◽  
C. Cajarville ◽  
A. Britos ◽  
A. González ◽  
J. L. Repetto

The aim of this study was to evaluate the fermentation activity of ruminal inoculum from cattle fed fresh pasture and supplemented or not with corn grain at different daily frequencies. Twenty heifers with ruminal catheters were randomly assigned to four treatments. Animals were fed pasture ad libitum and non-supplemented (T0) or supplemented with corn grain at 1% of bodyweight offered in one (T1), two (T2) or eight (T8) meals per day. After 20 days of adaptation, ruminal inoculum of each heifer was used to evaluate fermentation activity by the in vitro gas-production technique, using alfalfa, white clover or ryegrass as substrates. Gas production was measured at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h from the beginning of incubation. Data were fitted to an exponential model and potential gas volume, fractional rate of gas production and lag time were analysed by PROC MIXED, considering the effect of treatment and substrate, and their interaction. The three parameters were affected by the substrate. Supplementation frequency did not affect the potential gas volume or the fractional rate of gas production. An interaction between treatment and substrate was detected (P < 0.01) on lag time, but only when ryegrass was used as the substrate. In conclusion, increasing the frequency of supplementation did not show benefits for the fermentation activity of ruminal inoculum, at least when the type of pasture used in this experiment was supplemented with corn at 1% of bodyweight.

1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 69-69
Author(s):  
S. Fakhri ◽  
A. R. Moss ◽  
D.I. Givens ◽  
E. Owen

The gas production (GP) technique has previously been used to estimate the gas volume (fermentable energy (FE)) of compound feed ingredients for ruminants (Newbold et al., 1996). It was shown that the FE content of feed mixtures was represented by the combination of the total gas from the incubation of the individual feeds. However this additivity might not be consistent throughout the incubation period. The objectives were to test whether 1. other GP parameters give better estimates of FE for simple mixtures and are they additive; 2. whether organic matter apparently degraded in the rumen (OMADR) explain differences in GP; and 3. to find out if there are any other better measures than OMADR for estimating FE.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 757-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Blümmel ◽  
K. Becker

Fifty-four roughages of known voluntary dry-matter intakes (DMI; range 7·8−35·2 g/kg live weight per d) were examined in vitro in a gas production test. Samples (200 mg) of roughage and roughage neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) respectively were incubated in a mixed suspension of rumen contents for 96 h and the gas volumes recorded after 4,6,8,12,24,30,36,48,54,60 and 96 h. The kinetics of gas production were derived from the volume recordings described by the exponential equation Y=A+B(l—e-ct) where A is the intercept and ideally reflects the fermentation of the soluble and readily available fraction of the feed, B describes the fermentation of the insoluble (but with time fermentable) fraction and c the fractional rate at which B is fermented per h; A+B describes total fermentation. In vitro true dry matter (TD) and NDF degradabilities (NDF-D) after 24 h incubation were also determined. Of the variation in DMI, 75% was accounted for by the in vitro gas production parameters A, B and c in stepwise multiple regressions; 82% of the variation in DMI was explained by the parameters (ANDF+BNDF) and cNDF as obtained from the incubation of roughage NDF. The rate constants (c) were less important than parameters related to the extent of gas production, accounting for only 6·5 (whole roughage) and 4·1% (NDF) of the variation in DMI. There was no statistical advantage in the use of the exponential model describing extent and rate of fermentation over some of the simple gas volume measurements: 75% of the variation in DMI was accounted for by in vitro gas production of whole roughage after 8 h of incubation. On average gas production from NDF measured from 24–96 h accounted for 81% of the variation in DMI. A combination of gas volume measurements after a short period of incubation (4–8 h) with a concomitant determination of NDF-D after many hours (≥24 h) can render NDF preparations and long incubation times redundant. A method is suggested to obtain two results for DMI prediction in one single incubation. Of the variation in DMI 80% was accounted for by the incubation of 500 mg whole roughage when incubation was terminated after 24 h and the residual undegraded substrate quantified.


1996 ◽  
Vol 1996 ◽  
pp. 23-23
Author(s):  
N.S. Jessop ◽  
M. Herrero

The in vitro gas production technique aims to characterise feeds in terms of both the amount and rate of supply of fermentable carbohydrate. Models are used to interpret the data collected and typically assume that there is one pool of fermentable carbohydrate which is used at a fractional rate although it has been shown that inclusion of a modifying rate improves the fit of the model to the data (France et al., 1993). Since forage carbohydrate is not homogenous and can, at the simplest level, be divided into soluble (sugars) and insoluble (fibre) components, the aim of the experiment was to determine the influence of soluble material on the parameters obtained using this technique.Gas production from glucose: 12.5, 25 and 50 mg; cellulose: 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg; glucose/cellulose mixtures: 10/190, 20/180, 30/170, 40/160 and 50/150 mg and Brachiaria decumbens (Brach.), Cynodon nlenfluensis (Star) and Pennisetum clandestinum (Kikuyu) grasses: 200 mg, was measured in prewarmed 100 ml glass syringes using standard techniques with four or six replicates per sample.


1996 ◽  
Vol 1996 ◽  
pp. 23-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.S. Jessop ◽  
M. Herrero

The in vitro gas production technique aims to characterise feeds in terms of both the amount and rate of supply of fermentable carbohydrate. Models are used to interpret the data collected and typically assume that there is one pool of fermentable carbohydrate which is used at a fractional rate although it has been shown that inclusion of a modifying rate improves the fit of the model to the data (France et al., 1993). Since forage carbohydrate is not homogenous and can, at the simplest level, be divided into soluble (sugars) and insoluble (fibre) components, the aim of the experiment was to determine the influence of soluble material on the parameters obtained using this technique.Gas production from glucose: 12.5, 25 and 50 mg; cellulose: 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg; glucose/cellulose mixtures: 10/190, 20/180, 30/170, 40/160 and 50/150 mg and Brachiaria decumbens (Brach.), Cynodon nlenfluensis (Star) and Pennisetum clandestinum (Kikuyu) grasses: 200 mg, was measured in prewarmed 100 ml glass syringes using standard techniques with four or six replicates per sample.


1998 ◽  
Vol 1998 ◽  
pp. 69-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Fakhri ◽  
A. R. Moss ◽  
D.I. Givens ◽  
E. Owen

The gas production (GP) technique has previously been used to estimate the gas volume (fermentable energy (FE)) of compound feed ingredients for ruminants (Newbold et al., 1996). It was shown that the FE content of feed mixtures was represented by the combination of the total gas from the incubation of the individual feeds. However this additivity might not be consistent throughout the incubation period. The objectives were to test whether 1. other GP parameters give better estimates of FE for simple mixtures and are they additive; 2. whether organic matter apparently degraded in the rumen (OMADR) explain differences in GP; and 3. to find out if there are any other better measures than OMADR for estimating FE.


1997 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Blümmel ◽  
P. Bullerdieck

AbstractThe need to complement in vitro gas production measurements with residue determination is demonstrated by the recalculation and reassessment of published data on in vitro gas production, in sacco degradabilities and voluntary dry matter intake (DMI). The in sacco degradability — gas volume ratio was determined at 24 and 48 h of incubation, termed partitioning factor (PF) and combined with rate and extent parameters of in sacco degradability and in vitro gas production to predict DMI. In vitro gas production and in sacco degradability characteristics (a + b) and c as described by the equation y = a + b(1−ect) explained 0·373 and 0·668 respectively of the variation in DMI of 19 legume and grass hays. The complementation of gas production parameters by the PF24 increased the R2 value to 0·744 with PF24 accounting for 0·407 of the variation in DMI, the rate of gas production (c) for 0·218 and the extent of gas production (a + b) for 0·119 of the variation in DMI. As a single parameter, PF48 showed the highest correlation (R2 = 0·597) with DMI but the combination of PF4S with rate and extent of in sacco or in vitro gas production measurements did not improve the correlation further, probably due to an intercorrelation between rates of fermentation and PF4S. Hays which were degraded at faster rates had higher PF values indicating proportionally higher microbial yield and lower short-chain fatty acid production per unit substrate degraded. Generally, hays with high in sacco degradabilities but proportionally low gas production i.e. hays with high PF values showed higher DMI.


Author(s):  
N.D. Meads ◽  
R. Tahmasbi ◽  
N. Jantasila

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock are an important consideration in environmental science. Estimating GHG production can be problematic at a farm or animal level, and requires controlled conditions to produce real data. An in vitro gas production technique (IVGPT) was developed to evaluate forage-based total mixed rations in digestion kinetics and GHG production. Two hundred and sixty samples of complete mixed rations (MR), which included a pasture component used in commercial lactating dairy herds, were collected around NZ across three calendar years, 2017-2019. Twenty of the 260 samples were 100% total mixed rations (TMR) with no pasture content. The samples were submitted for proximate analysis as well as IVGPT to generate GHG production figures. The results showed an average total gas production (TGP) of 129.82 ml/g dry matter (DM), 78.6% true digestibility (TDMD), 125.06 mg/g DM microbial biomass (MB), 20.16 g CH4/kg DM, and 12.8 MJME/kg DM. The average nutrient composition was dry matter (DM) 31.55%, crude protein (CP) 21.85%, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) 44.35%, and starch 7.03%. The IVGPT CH4 production was negatively correlated to NDF (r=-0.312), ADF (r=-0.193), TGP (r=-0.216), and was positively correlated with TDMD (r=0.250), apparent digestibility (ADMD) (r=0.614), starch (r=0.117) and volatile fatty acids (r=0.538). The MR diet showed a strong positive relationship with ADMD digestibility (P=0.01) and a negative relationship with fibre content (NDF, P=0.01 and ADF, P=0.01). However, CH4 production reduced linearly with increasing TGP (P=0.01). The results indicated that a greater CH4 production may be related to higher digestibility of mixed ration.


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