Clay Mineral Minerals as a Strategy for Biomolecule Incorporation: Amino Acids Approach

The potential use of amino acids by ruminal microorganisms converting them into microbial protein for ruminants makes it challenging to supplement these nutrients in an accessible form in animals’ diets. Several strategies to protect amino acids from ruminal degradation were reported, producing amino acids available for the protein used in the intestine called “bypass.” The intercalation of biomolecules in clay mineral minerals has gained notoriety due to its ability to support, protect, transport, physicochemical properties and non-toxicity. This study aimed to investigate the incorporation of L-lysine (Lys), L-methionine (Met), and L-tryptophan (Trp) amino acids in the clay minerals sepiolite (Sep) and Veegum® (Veg) using the adsorption method. The characterization techniques of X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy indicated the presence of biomolecules in the inorganic matrices. Elemental and thermal analyzes monitored the percentages of incorporated amino acids. They showed better incorporation capacities for Veg, such as Met-Veg < Lys-Veg < Trp-Veg and Lys-Sep < Met-Sep < Trp-Sep for sepiolite, except for the incorporation of Met. Matrices provide a promising alternative for planning the administration of biomolecules, using essential amino acids as models, and may offer an alternative to improve functional diet strategies.

In Vitro Rumen Degradability of Tropical Legumes and Their Secondary Metabolites Depends on Inoculum Source

In this study, the in vitro apparent rumen degradability of organic matter (ARDOM) and plant secondary metabolites (ARDPSM) of three tropical legumes (Mucuna pruriens, Canavalia ensiformis and Leucaena leucocephala) were assessed. For this, single end-point incubations (24 h) as well as kinetic assessments (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 24 h) were set up with different inocula sources, i.e. ruminal inocula from Belgian and Cuban sheep. L-mimosine, L-canavanine, Concanavaline A (Con A) and trypsin inhibitor (TI) were the plant secondary metabolites (PSM) targeted in this study. Bean and forage/bean meals of M. pruriens and C. ensiformis as well as their PSM were extensively degraded during 24 h incubation (0.70 and 0.78 g ARDOM/g of organic matter (OM), respectively and > 0.80 g/g for L-canavanine, > 0.76 TIU/TIU for TI and > 0.95 g/g for Con A, for both legumes). Forage meal of L. leucocephala was considerably less degraded, with apparent ruminal degradabilities of 0.20 and 0.35 g ARDOM/g OM after 24 h incubation with Belgian or Cuban sheep inoculum, respectively. This could - at least partially - be related to L-mimosine, present in L. leucocephala, which was hardly degraded in the Belgian incubation, while a more extensive ruminal breakdown was observed under the Cuban conditions (0.05 to 0.78 g ARDPSM/g PSM, respectively). The negative effect of L-mimosine on OM degradability was supported by in vitro incubations with straw and inoculum from Belgian sheep, as ruminal degradation of straw was 31% lower when L-mimosine was supplemented.

Diets for Dairy Cows with Different Proportions of Crude Protein Originating from Red Clover Silage versus Soybean Meal: Ruminal Degradation and Intestinal Digestibility of Amino Acids

The purpose was to assess the effect of exchanging crude protein (CP) of soybean meal (SBM) with red clover silage (RCS) in total mixed rations (TMR) on ruminal degradation and intestinal digestibility (ID) of essential amino acids (EAA). Four TMR and their individual feed components were studied. The TMR were composed of forage and concentrates (75:25), with proportions of RCS in TMR of 0.15, 0.30, 0.45, and 0.60 on a dry matter basis, resulting in diet groups RCS15, RCS30, RCS45, and RCS60, respectively. The ruminal degradation of EAA was determined using the nylon bag technique. For this, samples of TMR and their individual feed components were ruminally incubated for 16 h. The feed residues of TMR obtained after 16 h of incubation were used for the determination of ID of EAA using the mobile-bag technique. Increasing RCS and reducing SBM proportions linearly increased (p < 0.01) the in situ ruminal degradation of individual EAA from 75.5% to 83.5%. The degradation of EAA followed the trend of CP degradation among TMR, except for Cys that was lower (p < 0.05) than that of CP in RCS60 (79.7% vs. 86.3%). The degradation of EAA in individual feed ingredients not always corresponded to the degradation of CP and was feed dependent. Increasing the proportions of RCS in the TMR linearly reduced (p < 0.001) the ID of EAA (except for Ile) from 78.2% to 67.3%. However, the ID of EAA did not always reflect the ID of CP, and in general, the differences between the ID of CP and EAA increased as RCS increased in the TMR. The ID values of most of the EAA were similar (p > 0.05) to ID of CP in RCS15 and RCS30, while they mostly differed (p < 0.05) in RCS45 and RCS60, and being higher for EAA than CP (except for Cys that was lower than CP, p < 0.05). Similar trends were observed for intestinal absorbable AA, resulting in higher values (p < 0.05) of intestinal absorbable for all EAA than of CP in diet RCS60. In conclusion, increasing levels of RCS in TMR reduced the extent of EAA flow into the small intestine, the ID of EAA, and consequently the intestinal absorbable EAA. Therefore, accurate determination of metabolizable AA must be considered for optimal diet formulation when including high proportions of RCS in diets of high-producing dairy cows.

Rumen Degradability of Barley, Oats, Sorghum, Triticale, and Wheat In Situ and the Effect of Pelleting

Feeding cereal grain to cattle is common practice for optimal beef and milk production. High concentrations of starch and other soluble carbohydrates may cause acidosis. Information on the effect of processing on starch and protein degradability in the rumen are scarce. This study was to determine the ruminal degradation patterns of common grains and the effect of steam pelleting on starch and crude protein (CP) degradability in the rumen. The ruminal degradation pattern of dry matter (DM), starch, and CP of ground and pelleted sorghum, barley, wheat, and samples along with ground oats and triticale were determined using the in situ nylon bags method. Cereals were incubated for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32, and 60 h, and the fast and slowly degradable fraction, the effective degradation rate, and effective degradability (ED) of DM, starch, and CP were calculated. The starch ED of ground and pelleted sorghum, barley, and two wheat samples were 57.3, 93.6, 95.2, and 97.2%; and 61.5, 93.8, 93.8, and 95.6%, and their crude protein ED was 54.8, 82.3, 83.3, 82.6% and 51.9, 79.2, 81.8, and 78.1% respectively. The starch ED of ground oat and triticale were 98.3 and 94.7%, and that of CP were 93.7 and 75.2%, respectively. The degradability of sorghum was significantly lower than that of the other grains. Pelleting increased the fast-degradable DM and starch faction of sorghum and tended to improve its DM degradability (p = 0.081). Pelleting significantly reduced the fast-degradable fraction of DM and starch of wheat samples and numerically reduced its degradability.

Ruminal ammonia concentration and fermentation kinetics of commercial herbal feed additives with amino acids

The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical composition of rumen fermentation while estimating it’s in vitro protein degradation (from ruminal ammonia concentration) and kinetics regarding two herbal feed plant additives. The tested herbal mixtures were elaborated with Phaseolus mango and Linum usitatissimum, providing lysine (Lys) and Trigonella foenum-graecum and Allium sativa, providing Methionine (Met). They were compared to alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and solvent extracted soybean meal (Glicine max), as standard sources of protein using the in vitro gas production technique modified to estimate N-NH3, recording fermentation kinetics and dry matter digestibility (72 h), in a completely randomized design followed by Tukey test. Ruminal ammonia concentration in the herbal mixtures was lower (P<0.05) than in the standard protein sources, indicating that protein from herbal mixtures could resist ruminal degradation. Herbal additives with Lys or Met showed minimum N-NH3 concentration in the first 4 h of incubation. At 8 h, the concentration was 0.27 and 0.54 mg dL-1 for the herbal products with Lys and Met, significantly lower than solvent extracted soybean meal and alfalfa (1.15 and 2.24 mg dL-1 respectively, P<0.05). Highlights The tested herbal mixture elaborated with Phaseolus mango and Linum usitatissimum, provide bypass Lysine. The tested herbal mixture elaborated with Trigonella foenum-graecum and Allium sativa, provide bypass Methionine. Ruminal ammonia concentration in the herbal mixtures was lower than in the standard protein sources. Protein from herbal mixtures could resist ruminal degradation.

In situ ruminal degradation of sallow tree leaves using different mathematical models

Objective. The objective of this study was to determine the in situ digestion parameters of sallow leaves (Salix Alba) as an alternative food, not commonly used in animal diets using mathematical models. Materials and methods. Four mathematical models were used to describe the ruminal disappearance of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of sallow leaves: non lagged exponential (Model I); lagged exponential (Model II); Gompertz (Model III), and generalized Mitscherlich (Model IV). Results. Results of DM and CP degradability characteristics showed that all the models fitted well (r2>0.98) to the disappearance data. There were minor differences between the models in terms of statistical evaluations. However, the models differed in the estimated parameters depending on the model’s nature and structure and the parameters included. Conclusions. Given that some models estimated negative values for the studied parameters, they were not biologically acceptable. For this reason, the only model I can be used for estimating the degradability of DM and CP of sallow leaves. In terms of effective degradability (ED) of DM, model III was not used in the calculations because of calculating negative values for part A. Sallow leaves constitute the largest possible proportion of the ruminal degradability fractions, and effective degradability can be used as a forage source in ruminant feeds.

Ruminal degradation kinetics, intake, digestibility, and feeding behavior of beef steers offered annual or perennial grass-hay with or without supplementation

Effects of dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) on ruminal fermentation, degradation kinetics, and feeding behavior of steers offered annual (Eragrostis tef; TEFF) or perennial (Bothriochloa bladhii; OWB) grass-hay were evaluated. Ruminally-cannulated Angus crossbred steers [n = 6; body weight (BW) = 304 ± 11 kg] were assigned to a 4 × 6 unbalanced Latin square design with 4 treatments arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial: hay type (OWB or TEFF) and DDGS supplementation {0 or 0.5% BW [dry matter (DM) basis]}. Steers had ad libitum access to hay. Periods consisted of a 14-d adaptation followed by 7 d of collection. Residues from the in situ incubations (0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, and 96 h post-feeding) were fitted to a first-order kinetics model using the NLIN procedure of SAS. The DDGS decreased (P &lt; 0.01) TEFF DM intake (DMI) by 11.3%, while not affecting DMI of OWB. The greatest DMI was observed for steers supplemented with DDGS, regardless of forage, and least in steers consuming OWB without DDGS (hay type × DDGS; P = 0.03). Non-supplemented steers spent more (P &lt; 0.01) time eating hay. Digestibility of DM tended (P = 0.06) to increase with DDGS supplementation. A hay type × DDGS interaction was observed (P ≤ 0.05) on ruminal effective degradable fractions. The rate of degradation, soluble fraction, and the potentially degradable fraction of OM, NDF, and ADF increased (P ≤ 0.05), while the undegradable fraction of all components decreased (P ≤ 0.01) when steers were offered TEFF compared to OWB. Ruminal DM, OM, and ADF degradation lag-time increased (P ≤ 0.02) in steers offered OWB. Ruminal degradation kinetics were not (P ≥ 0.17) independently affected by DDGS supplementation. Average ruminal pH of steers offered TEFF (P &lt; 0.01) and those offered DDGS (P &lt; 0.01) were lower than OWB and non-supplemented steers. Total concentration of VFA tended (P = 0.09) to increase when DDGS was provided with OWB, while decreasing when TEFF was offered. The acetate:propionate increased (P &lt; 0.01) with DDGS supplementation due to a decrease (P = 0.03) in propionate. Ruminal NH3-N was greater (P = 0.03) in steers offered TEFF compared to OWB, and those supplemented with DDGS (P = 0.03). An annual, in place of a conventional, perennial hay improved intake and digestion of nutrients, without affecting feeding behavior. The supplementation with DDGS appears to affect forage intake, ruminal degradation, and feeding behavior, although not independent of forage quality.

Vitamin D2 production and in vitro ruminal degradation of UV-B irradiated vitamin D enriched yeast in Thai native cattle

The purposes of this study were to investigate the optimum UV-B irradiation time needed to produce vitamin D enriched yeast and to promote in vitro ruminal degradation of UV-B irradiated vitamin D enriched yeast in Thai native cattle. Baker’s yeast and S. cerevisiae were irradiated at 0, 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 24 hours. The UV-B irradiation of both yeast strains could significantly enhance vitamin D2 to the highest amount at 16 hours. The corn stover and TMR were studied for determination of in vitro ruminal degradation, included three treatments that involved each type of feed, namely feedstuff without supplementation, feedstuff with live yeast supplementation and feedstuff with UV-B irradiated vitamin D enriched yeast. Gas production data of the live yeast group and the UV-B irradiated vitamin D enriched yeast supplementation group, were significantly higher than those of the control groups for both types of feedstuffs. The vitamin D content of the vitamin D enriched yeast supplementation groups were not significantly different from those of the groups subjected to an initial incubation period (10.98 vs. 14.43μg, respectively). Therefore, after a period of irradiation of 16 hours, the two yeasts strain produced the highest vitamin D2 content, while Baker’s yeast produced vitamin D2 at higher amounts than S. cerevisiae. Notably, UV-B irradiated vitamin D enriched yeast improved the in vitro ruminal degradation, while also preventing a loss in the amount of vitamin D that was degraded by the rumen microorganisms.

Ruminal Degradation Kinetics of Beef Steers Fed Annual or Perennial Grass-hay with or Without Supplementation

The effects of dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) supplementation on ruminal degradation kinetics of steers fed annual [‘Tiffany’Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter; TEFF] or perennial [‘WW-B Dahl’ Old World bluestem, Bothriochloa bladhii (Retz).T. Blake; OWB] grass hay were evaluated. Ruminally cannulated crossbred-Angus steers (n = 6; BW = 304 ± 11 kg) were assigned to a 4 × 6 unbalanced Latin square design with 4 treatments. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial, with factors being hay type (OWB or TEFF) and DDGS supplementation [0 or 0.5% BW (DM basis)]. Steers had ad libitum access to hay and received 110 g of a mineral/vitamin packet daily. Periods consisted of a 14-d adaptation followed by 7 d of collection. Hay types were reverse-incubated at 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, and 96 h post-feeding. Residues from the in situ incubations were fitted to a first-order kinetics model using the non-linear procedure of SAS. The GLIMMIX procedures of SAS were used for the statistical analysis. A hay type × DDGS interaction was observed (P ≤ 0.05) for the estimation of substrate effective degradable fraction of OM, NDF, ADF, and hemicellulose; however, after adjusting with Tukey’s, there were no treatment mean differences (P ≥ 0.08). The rate of digestion, soluble fraction, and the potentially degradable fraction of OM, NDF, ADF, and hemicellulose increased (P ≤ 0.05), while the undegradable fraction decreased (P ≤ 0.01) when steers were fed TEFF, regardless of DDGS supplementation. Ruminal degradation lag-time increased (P ≤ 0.02) by 1.5, 1.45, and 2.6 h for DM, OM, and ADF, respectively in steers fed OWB, regardless of DDGS supplementation. Ruminal degradation kinetics were not (P ≥ 0.17) independently affected by DDGS supplementation. Future investigations should elucidate the interaction between supplementation and forage quality.