Rumen fermentation characteristics of dairy cows grazing different allowances of Persian clover- or perennial ryegrass-dominant swards in spring

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. J. Williams ◽  
G. P. Walker ◽  
P. T. Doyle ◽  
A. R. Egan ◽  
C. R. Stockdale
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Perennial Ryegrass ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Rumen Fermentation ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Persian Clover ◽  
Grazing Dairy Cows

An experiment was conducted in which cows in early lactation grazed Persian clover (Trifolium resupinatum L.) or perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)-dominant pastures at low or high pasture allowances in order to determine the effects of pasture type and level of feeding on rumen fermentation patterns. The hypotheses for grazing dairy cows were: (i) the consumption of Persian clover would result in a more rapid rate of degradation and less stable rumen fermentation patterns compared with perennial ryegrass; and (ii) the greater intake of cows grazing at high compared with low pasture allowances would also cause less stable rumen fermentation patterns. Stability of rumen fermentation refers to the level to which rumen fluid pH declines, especially for long periods of a day, indicating that the rumen is not coping with neutralising and/or removing acids. Cows grazing Persian clover had lower (P<0.05) average daily rumen fluid pH (5.7 v. 5.9), molar proportions of acetic acid (68.3 v. 70.6%) and ratios of lipogenic to glucogenic volatile fatty acid (4.6 v. 5.1) in the rumen than those grazing perennial ryegrass. They had higher (P<0.05) rumen fluid ammonia-N (26.3 v. 13.0 mg/100 mL) and total volatile fatty acid (165 v. 134 mmol/L) concentrations and molar proportions of butyric (11.3 v. 10.7%) and propionic (17.2 v. 16.1%) acids than cows grazing perennial ryegrass. Cows grazing at low pasture allowances had a higher (P<0.05) average daily rumen fluid pH (5.9 v. 5.7) and lower rumen fluid ammonia-N (18.6 v. 20.7 mg/100 mL) and total volatile fatty acid (143 v. 156 mmol/L) concentrations than cows grazing at high pasture allowances. Cows given Persian clover at the high allowance had a rumen fluid pH less than 6.0 for the entire day while rumen fluid pH was below 6.0 for at least 15 h of the day on all the other treatments. There was no effect (P>0.05) of pasture allowance on the degradation rate of perennial ryegrass dry matter, but the higher allowance of Persian clover resulted in the highest (P<0.05) rate of degradation of dry matter compared with either ryegrass treatment or the low allowance of Persian clover. The effective dry matter degradability of Persian clover was greater (P<0.05) than that of perennial ryegrass, and the effective dry matter degradability of herbage in cows grazing at low allowances was greater (P<0.05) than at higher allowances. However, future research should consider neutral detergent fibre degradation in grazing dairy cows with low rumen fluid pH levels.

The effect of including Colombian rice polishings in the diet on rumen fermentation in vitro

1992 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Cardenas Garcia ◽  
C. J. Newbold ◽  
H. Galbraith ◽  
J. H. Topps
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Basal Diet ◽  
Rumen Fermentation ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Cellulolytic Bacteria ◽  
Medium Quality ◽  
Total Volatile Fatty Acid

AbstractThe effect of including full-fat Colombian rice polishings, at 250 or 500 g/kg dry matter (DM) or defatted Colombian rice polishings (at 500 g/kg DM) on the fermentation of a basal diet of dried grass and medium-quality hay, in the rumen simulation technique (Rusitec), was investigated. With diets which contained 0, 0·25, 0·50 full-fat or 0·50 defatted, proportions of rice polishing, values for pH were depressed (7·22, 7·19, 7·11, 7·06 (s.e.d. 0·05)) and total volatile fatty acid concentrations were increased (52·8, 52·5, 75·5, 754 (s.e.d. 2·1) mmol/l) at the high levels of inclusion of rice polishings. Concentrations of ammonia (130, 140, 228, 209 (s.e, d. 64) mg/l) and total bacterial numbers (2·32, 2·70, 3·55, 442 (s.e.d. 0·82) × 108 per ml) were elevated by rice polishings inclusion. Numbers of cellulolytic bacteria (2·52, 1·74, 1·84, 2·10 (s.e.d. 0·60) × 106 per ml) and protozoa (19·8, 16·2, 15·8, 22·2 (s.e.d. 1·51) × 103 per ml were depressed (the latter significantly P < 0·01) by the inclusion offull-fat, but not by defatted, rice polishings.

Rate of feed degradation in strip-grazing dairy cows

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. J. Williams ◽  
P. T. Doyle ◽  
A. R. Egan
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Incubation Period ◽  
Perennial Ryegrass ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Rumen Ph ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Degradation Rates ◽  
Persian Clover ◽  
Grazing Dairy Cows ◽  
Strip Grazing

Nylon bags containing Persian clover, perennial ryegrass or perennial pasture hay were incubated for 12-h periods in lactating dairy cows grazing Persian clover pasture. The hypothesis was that the rate of dry matter disappearance over the first 12 h of incubation in the rumen would be lower when bags were inserted at a time when the rumen pH was at its lowest point for the day compared with a time when it was at its highest. It was also hypothesised that the reduction in rate of DM loss over 12 h at the initially low and then fluctuating rumen pH would be lower for Persian clover than for perennial ryegrass and the hay. Rumen fistulated cows grazing at 4 different pasture allowances (9, 16, 32 and 53 kg DM/day; 4 cows per treatment) were used in a completely randomised, split-plot design. The nylon bag incubation periods were 0700 to 1900 hours (period 1) and 1900 to 0700 hours (period 2) and rumen fluid pH was measured every 3 h during these periods. The ruminal fluid pH at the time of insertion of the nylon bags was higher (6.3 v. 5.7; P<0.001) in incubation period 1 than in period 2, and there was an interaction between the effects of incubation period and pasture allowance on the average rumen fluid pH in each period. Rate of DM loss was higher (3.47 v. 3.28%/h; P = 0.019) in incubation period 1 than in incubation period 2, highest (P<0.001) for clover, followed by ryegrass and then hay (5.05 v. 3.15 v. 1.93%/h) and higher (P<0.001) in cows grazing at the low (9 and 16 kg DM/cow) compared with high (32 and 53 kg DM/cow) allowances. There was a significant linear relationship (P<0.05) between DM loss rate calculated over 12 h and rumen fluid pH for grass and hay, but for clover this relationship only occurred in incubation period 2. These results suggest that more than 1 factor is important for determining feed degradation rates in the rumen at any particular time and that only using rates of forage DM loss that are obtained from nylon bags inserted prior to the morning feed, may overestimate the extent of rumen degradation of the feed eaten over the whole day in cows strip-grazing highly digestible pastures.

Effects of grain or hay supplementation on the chewing behaviour and stability of rumen fermentation of dairy cows grazing perennial ryegrass-based pasture in spring

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 1519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. J. Williams ◽  
W. J. Wales ◽  
P. T. Doyle ◽  
A. R. Egan ◽  
C. R. Stockdale
Keyword(s):  
Perennial Ryegrass ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acids ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Rumen Fermentation ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Neutral Detergent Fibre ◽  
Degradation Rates ◽  
Cereal Grain ◽  
Chewing Behaviour

Cows grazing highly digestible pasture in early spring can have very low rumen fluid pH that can negatively impact on the efficiency of microbial digestion. In this experiment, cows in early lactation grazed perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)-based pasture alone at low or high allowances, or at a low allowance supplemented with either a cereal grain pellet, a chopped hay cube or a cube containing cereal grain and chopped hay to determine the effects of the addition of neutral detergent fibre as hay on chewing behaviour and stability of rumen fermentation. The hypotheses tested were that: (i) supplementing high digestibility ryegrass pasture with pelleted cereal grain would increase the proportion of the day that the pH of rumen fluid was below 6.0 and would decrease the rate of degradation of neutral detergent fibre in pasture and hay; and (ii) the inclusion of chopped hay with the cereal grain supplement in cubes would reduce the proportion of the day that the rumen fluid pH was below 6.0 and restore the rate of degradation of neutral detergent fibre in pasture and hay to that in unsupplemented cows. Rumen fluid pH was highest (P<0.05) in cows fed a chopped hay cube and lowest (P<0.05) in cows fed a cube containing cereal grain and chopped hay, with no significant (P>0.05) difference between those fed pasture only or cereal grain pellets. The introduction of grain, with or without hay, did not substantially alter the pattern or magnitude of changes in rumen fluid pH, but did reduce (P<0.05) the rate of degradation of neutral detergent fibre in pasture (5.3 v. 7.6%/h) and hay (2.7 v. 5.0%/h) in the rumen. Rumen degradation rates of pasture dry matter and neutral detergent fibre were not improved by adding chopped hay. Total volatile fatty acid concentrations in rumen fluid were highest (P<0.05) on the high pasture allowance treatment and lowest (P<0.05) on the low pasture allowance and the chopped hay cube treatments. Supplementation with grain reduced (P<0.05) the proportion of acetate and increased (P<0.05) the proportion of propionate in total volatile fatty acids. There were no significant (P>0.05) effects of dietary treatment on time spent grazing or on rate of biting while grazing. Cows in treatments receiving grain supplements (532 min) and those in the high pasture allowance treatment (566 min) spent more (P<0.05) time ruminating than those in the low pasture allowance (415 min) and chopped hay cube (465 min) treatments. The relative contributions of low pH and of starch to the reduction in rates of dry matter and neutral detergent fibre degradation in the rumen cannot be determined from this experiment, however, it is likely that both factors contribute to a relative increase in the metabolic activity of non-cellulolytic microorganisms.

scholarly journals The Effect of Multistage Ammoniation on Fiber Fraction and Digestibility of Maize Stover in vitro

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Dakaew ◽  
A. Abrar ◽  
A. Cherdthong
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Maize Stover ◽  
Dry Matter Digestibility ◽  
Fiber Fraction ◽  
Total Volatile Fatty Acid

The main objective of this experiment was to assess the effect of multistage ammoniation on fiber fraction and digestibility of maize stover in vitro. Maize stover was treated by a multistage technique of different urea connect ration (8%, 4%, and 2%) and incubation for 14 days at room temperature.Digestibility of NDF, ADF, ADL, hemicellulose, and cellulose, in vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD), organic matter digestibility (OMD), NH3-N, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) and pH concentration were observed. However treatment maize stover and multistage ammoniation maize stover were composed by using T-test student as the statistic. There were not significantly different on fiber fraction and digestibility of maize stover. However, multistage ammoniation decreased ADF fraction by 56.67% to45.39%. The DM digestibility of multistage ammoniation on fiber fraction and digestibility of maize stover also increased by 35.18 to 45.91. The total VFA and N-ammonia of multistage ammoniation on fiber fraction and digestibility of maize stover also higher than control.Keywords: Ammoniation, Digestibility, in vitro, Maize stover

Substitution of sorghum grain for molasses increases the liveweight gain of steers given molasses-based diets

1998 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. PEIRIS ◽  
R. ELLIOTT ◽  
B. W. NORTON
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Feed Intake ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Basal Diet ◽  
Feed Consumption ◽  
Sunflower Meal ◽  
Sorghum Grain

Sorghum grain was included in a basal diet of molasses (molasses 505, urea 21, sunflower meal 191, pangola grass hay 250, minerals 31 g/kg as fed) at rates of 0, 202, 391 and 707 g/kg, generating diets in which grain replaced 0 (diet A), 33 (diet B), 66 (diet C) and 100% (diet D) of the molasses and hay. The four diets were fed to groups of four Hereford steers (293–334 kg liveweight) over a 96-day period. One half of each treatment group was implanted with a growth promotant (zeranol), and all were slaughtered at a commercial abattoir at the end of the trial. The inclusion of 33% grain increased voluntary feed consumption, digestible dry matter (DM) intake (from 57·6 to 82·0 g digestible DM/kg0·75 per day and significantly increased liveweight gain from 592 to 900 g/day. Zeranol implantation also increased liveweight gain but not feed intake. Steers given only grain (diet D) had the highest liveweight gains (1127 g/day). The addition of grain to molasses diets decreased urinary N excretion and increased ammonia and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations in rumen fluid. Molar proportions of propionic acid in total VFA increased from 0·15 to 0·20, and butyric acid decreased from 0·36 to 0·29 when 33% of the molasses was replaced by sorghum grain. The fat content (depth at sacral position) of the carcasses of steers given grain only (diet D) was significantly greater (14 mm) than that of steers given the basal diet of molasses (4 mm), and carcass fat contents were intermediate (10 and 11 mm) for steers given diets B and C respectively. It was concluded that the inclusion of small amounts of grain in molasses-based diets increased cattle growth principally by increasing digestible energy intake without decreasing molasses intake, thus improving the efficiency of utilization of molasses in molasses-based diets.

An initial investigation on rumen fermentation pattern and methane emission of sheep offered diets containing urea or nitrate as the nitrogen source

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 653 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Li ◽  
J. Davis ◽  
J. Nolan ◽  
R. Hegarty
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Methane Production ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Rumen Fluid ◽  
Calcium Nitrate ◽  
Rumen Fermentation ◽  
Molar Ratio ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid Concentration ◽  
Enteric Methane ◽  
Fermentation Pattern

The effects of dietary nitrate and of urea on rumen fermentation pattern and enteric methane production were investigated using 4-month-old ewe lambs. Ten lambs were allocated into two groups (n = 5) and each group was offered one of two isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets containing either 1.5% urea (T1) or 3% calcium nitrate (T2). Methane production was estimated using open-circuit respiration chambers after 6 weeks of feeding. No difference in nitrogen (N) balance, apparent digestibility of N or microbial N outflow existed between treatments (P > 0.05). Animals offered the T2 diet lost less energy through methane than did those fed the T1 diet (P < 0.05). Total volatile fatty acid concentration, molar proportion of propionate, and the molar ratio of acetate to propionate in rumen fluid were not affected by dietary N source. Compared with urea inclusion, nitrate inclusion caused a significantly higher acetate and lower butyrate percentage in rumen volatile fatty acid. Nitrate supplementation tended to lower methane production by ~7.7 L/day relative to urea supplementation (P = 0.06). Methane yield (L/kg DM intake) was reduced (P < 0.05) by 35.4% when 1.5% urea was replaced by 3% calcium nitrate in the diet. Emission intensity (L methane/kg liveweight gain) was ~17.3% lower in the nitrate-supplemented sheep when compared with urea-fed sheep; however, the reduction was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). This study confirms that the presence of nitrate in the diet inhibits enteric methane production. As no clinical symptoms of nitrite toxicity were observed and sheep receiving nitrate-supplemented diet had similar growth to those consuming urea-supplemented diet, it is concluded that 3% calcium nitrate can replace 1.5% urea as a means of meeting ruminal N requirements and of reducing enteric methane emissions from sheep, provided animals are acclimated to nitrate gradually.

Effect of 9,10-Anthraquinone on rumen methane production as studied in vitro and in vivo

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 ◽  
pp. 122-122
Author(s):  
V. Fievez ◽  
B. Vlaeminck ◽  
W. Steinberg ◽  
I. Immig ◽  
D. Demeyer
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Methane Production ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Rumen Fermentation ◽  
Dose Effect ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Total Volatile Fatty Acid

In vitro supplementation of 0.05% [on a substrate basis (wt/wt)] - but not of 0.01% - of 9,10-Anthraquinone (AQ) inhibited rumen methanogenesis, reduced total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations and molar proportions of acetate (Acet), increased proportions of propionate (Prop) and butyrate (But) and resulted sometimes in H2 accumulation (Garcia-Lopez et al., 1996). In vivo administration of high amounts of AQ [5% on a substrate basis (wt/wt)] to lambs depressed CH4 and increased H2 concentrations in ruminal gases during the complete 19 days of administration, whereas original concentrations were re-installed within 6 days after the removal of AQ from the diet (Kung et al., 1996). In this experiment we aimed to study the dose effect of AQ on in vitro rumen fermentation and modifications to rumen fermentation when administering 0.05% of AQ in vivo.

Rumen fermentation of fresh herbage

1966 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. J. Williams ◽  
K. R. Christian
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Feed Intake ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acid ◽  
Rumen Fermentation ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Protein Nitrogen ◽  
Intake Level ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Total Volatile Fatty Acid

1. On twelve occasions covering a complete seasonal cycle rumen mierobial end-product concentrations were measured in a group of sheep allowed to graze a pasture for 1 hr. Considerable differences were obtained in the rises in total volatile fatty acid and ammonia after feeding, in average rumen protein nitrogen and in free mierobial count.2. Seven samples of fresh herbage wfere fed to groups of sheep in pens at different levels of intake. Increase in feed intake with five of the herbages produced significant increases in rumen ammonia and total volatile fatty acid and with one herbage there was a significant increase in protein nitrogen. Free mierobial count was measured after feeding three herbages and was found to be independent of intake level.

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