Methane emission, ruminal fermentation parameters and fatty acid profile of meat in Santa Inês lambs fed the legume macrotiloma

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo de Mello Tavares Lima ◽  
Adibe Luiz Abdalla Filho ◽  
Juliano Issakowicz ◽  
Egon Hion Ieda ◽  
Patrícia Spoto Corrêa ◽  
...  

Context Using legumes in ruminant production system may provide benefits such as improvement in animal performance and decrease in methane (CH4) emissions, mainly based on nutritional characteristics of these plants and the presence of tannins. Macrotiloma (Macrotyloma axillare) is a tropical legume that still lacks studies regarding its effects on animal performance and CH4 emissions. Aims The objective of this experiment was to evaluate productive performance, CH4 emission, ruminal fermentation parameters, carcass characteristics and fatty acid profile of the meat from lambs fed tropical grass hay supplemented with the legume forage macrotiloma. Methods For a 90-day experimental period, 14 Santa Inês male lambs (aging 100 days; 18.06 ± 3.26 kg initial bodyweight) were allocated in individual pens and divided into two treatments: chopped aruana grass (Panicum maximum cv. Aruana) hay (CON); aruana hay supplemented with chopped macrotiloma hay at a ratio of 75:25 grass to legume (MAC). Lambs were weighed fortnightly for calculation of average daily bodyweight gain (ADG) and CH4 emission was measured on three occasions (days 28 to 32; 57 to 61; 85 to 89) using the sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer technique. At the last day of CH4 collection, rumen fluid samples were collected for: determination of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) and short chain fatty acids (SCFA); ruminal protozoa count; and relative abundance determination of general bacteria (BACT); Ruminococcus flavefaciens (RUMI); Fibrobacter succinogenes (FIBRO); methanogenic archaea (METH) by real-time quantitative PCR (real-time-qPCR) analysis. Subsequently, after 16 h fasting, the animals were slaughtered; carcass characteristics were then evaluated and longissimus thoracis samples were collected for fatty acid profile analysis. Key results No significant difference (P > 0.05) was observed between MAC and CON for productive performance, CH4 emission, SCFA and carcass characteristics. Reduced protozoa count and relative abundance of METH were observed for MAC (P < 0.05). Conclusions Despite the lack of effects on productive performance and CH4 emission, the decreased relative abundance of METH and protozoa count indicated that macrotiloma may possibly present anti-methanogenic activity. Implications The inclusion of this legume in the diet of ruminants may affect rumen microbes and potentially decrease environmental impacts of the production system.

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1904
Author(s):  
Taoqi Shao ◽  
Joshua C. McCann ◽  
Daniel W. Shike

The objective was to investigate the effects of feeding late gestational beef cows supplements differing in fatty acid profile on steer progeny finishing phase growth performance, carcass characteristics, and relative mRNA expression of myogenic and adipogenic genes. Seventy Angus-cross steers (initial body weight [BW] 273 ± 34 kg) born from dams supplemented with either 155 g DM/d EnerGII (CON, rich in palmitic and oleic acids) or 80 g DM/d Strata + 80 g DM/d Prequel (PUFA, rich in linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid) for the last 77 ± 6 d prepartum were used. Longissimus muscle and subcutaneous adipose biopsies were collected to evaluate relative mRNA expression of genes related to myogenesis and adipogenesis. Steers were slaughtered at 423 ± 6 d of age. No treatment × time interaction or treatment effect (p ≥ 0.21) was detected for steer finishing phase BW, while steers from PUFA supplemented dams tended (p = 0.06) to have a greater gain to feed ratio (G:F). Neither carcass characteristics nor relative mRNA expression was different (p ≥ 0.11). In conclusion, late gestation PUFA supplementation tended to increase steer progeny finishing phase G:F, but had no effects on finishing phase BW, carcass characteristics, or relative mRNA expression during the finishing phase.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 775-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo de Mello Tavares Lima ◽  
Carla Vanessa da Silva Alcantara Moraes Sousa ◽  
Tiago do Prado Paim ◽  
Patrícia Spoto Corrêa ◽  
Dante Pazzanese Duarte Lanna ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-68
Author(s):  
Hakan IŞIK ◽  
İbrahim TÜRKEKUL ◽  
Aydın Şükrü BENGÜ ◽  
Handan ÇINAR YILMAZ

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Haruyoshi Ito ◽  
Ivanor Nunes do Prado ◽  
Polyana Pizzi Rotta ◽  
Marival Gustavo de Oliveira ◽  
Rodolpho Martin do Prado ◽  
...  

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2018
Author(s):  
Hua Sun ◽  
Yang Luo ◽  
Fangfang Zhao ◽  
Yaotian Fan ◽  
Jingnan Ma ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of partially substituting for conventional forage, Chinese wildrye (CW), with mulberry leaves (ML) on the growth, digestion, ruminal fermentation, blood metabolites, and meat quality of sheep in a 65-day feedlot study. Thirty-two four-month-old male small-tailed Han sheep (25.15 ± 1.03 kg) were randomly assigned to one of four treatments. The dietary treatments consisted of four proportions of ML (0, 8, 24, and 32%) as a substitute for CW (designated as ML0, ML8, ML24, and ML32, respectively). Rumen digesta and blood samples were collected at day 63 of the trial. Carcass traits were assessed after slaughter at the end of performance period. The results from this study revealed no differences in average daily bodyweight gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and final body weight (FBW) among treatments. The apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) was higher in the sheep fed with ML than in those fed CW. The ML24 treatment had a higher digestibility of crude protein (CP) and ether extract (EE). There were no differences (p = 0.13) in ruminal pH values among the treatments. However, there was more microbial protein (p < 0.01) in ML24 and ML32 treatments than the ML0 treatment. Ruminal concentrations of acetate and butyrate were significantly different among treatments, although no difference in concentrations of total volatile fatty acid were found. Additionally, no differences were detected for serum parameters except blood urea nitrogen (BUN). No differences were observed for carcass weight (p = 0.62), dressing percentage (p = 0.31) or longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) area (p = 0.94) among treatments. However, intramuscular fat was higher in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. (p < 0.01). There were higher pH values of the 24-h longissimus dorsi in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. In addition, the saturated fatty acid (SFA) content was lower (p < 0.01) and the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content higher (p < 0.01) in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. In conclusion, the partially substitution of mulberry leaves for Chinese wildrye in the diet of sheep had a beneficial influence on the growth performance, blood metabolites and carcass characteristics. The inclusion of 24% (air dry basis) mulberry leaf hay in the ration of sheep is recommended based on these findings.


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