Ensiling of potato pulp with or without bacterial inoculants and its effect on fermentation quality, nutrient composition and nutritive value

From Food Waste to Sustainable Agriculture: Nutritive Value of Potato By-Product in Total Mixed Ration for Angus Bulls

Raw potato fries are a type of potato by-product (PBP), and they have great potential as a partial replacement of grain in animal feeds to improve the environmental sustainability of food production. This study aimed to investigate the effects of replacing corn with different levels of PBP (0%, 12.84%, 25.65%, and 38.44%) in the total mixed ration (TMR) of Angus bull. Sixty 16-month-old Angus bulls (548.5 ± 15.0 kg, mean ± SD) were randomly assigned to four treatments. The results indicated that with the increase in the substitution amount of PBP, the body weight decreased significantly. The dry matter apparent digestibility and starch apparent digestibility linearly decreased as PBP replacement increased. The feed ingredient composition in the TMR varied, leading to a corresponding change in the rumen microbiota, especially in cellulolytic bacteria and amylolytic bacteria. The abundance of Succiniclasticum in the 12.84% PBP and 38.44% PBP diets was significantly higher than that in the 0% PBP and 25.65% PBP diets. The abundance of Ruminococcus linearly increased. In conclusion, using PBP to replace corn for beef cattle had no negative impact on rumen fermentation, and the decrease in apparent digestibility explained the change in growth performance. Its application in practical production is highly cost-effective and a strategy to reduce food waste.

Changes in the biochemical, hematological and histopathological parameters in STZ-Induced diabetic rats and the ameliorative effect of Kigelia africana fruit extract

Background

Biochemical, hematological and histological changes are major observable clinical and pathological factors associated with Diabetes mellitus. Derangement in the levels of these parameters increases the risk of the development of complications. In another hand, gastrointestinal intolerance due to the development of lactic acidosis on the gastrointestinal tract and the intestinal microbiome is the toxic side effect of various synthetic antidiabetic agents. The use of Kigelia africana fruit extract for the treatment of diabetes has been scientifically validated. This study therefore aimed at investigating changes in the biochemical, hematological and histological parameters as well as the determination of the functional groups present in the hexane fraction of the fruit.

Methods

The fruits were extracted with ethanol and partitioned with n-hexane to obtain the hexane fraction. Diabetic rats induced with streptozotocin (STZ) were divided into 5 groups of 5 animals each and treated with 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight (BW) hexane fraction alongside reference standard; glibenclamide. Fasting blood glucose levels and their body weights were monitored weekly. Animals were sacrificed at the end of 28-day treatment. Blood, liver, and kidney were collected for biochemical, hematological and histopathological analyses. Fourier transform infrared resonance (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis was carried out on the hexane fraction for functional group determination.

Results

The hexane fraction of K. africana fruit extract decreased fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels significantly with ameliorative effects on the hematological parameters such as packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and red blood cells (RBC) etc. There were significant regenerative differences in the biochemical activities as well as the renal cortex and midzone sections of the rat's kidney and liver when compared with untreated diabetic rats. The presence of polyphenolic functional groups via FTIR analysis suggested high antioxidant activities of the fruit extract.

Conclusion

The use of Kigelia africana fruit extracts protects against biochemical, hematological and histological changes that are injurious to diabetic patients. Therefore, Kigelia africana fruit is a good hepatic- and nephroprotective agent and has a hemato-protective ability.

In vitro ruminal fermentation and in situ ruminal degradation of tamarind kernel powder extract residue in wethers

We examined the in vitro fermentation characteristics and in situ dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) degradability of tamarind kernel powder extract residue (TKPER), a by-product of polysaccharides thickener processing. Two types of TKPER (I and II), of which the CP and neutral detergent fiber organic matter basis contents (%) were 41.4 and 42.0 and 1.4 and 0.5, respectively, were compared with dry heat soybean (SB), soybean meal (SBM) and dry soybean curd residue (SBCR). The TKPERs had significantly lower in vitro gas production compared to the other products at each observation time (P < 0.05). The in vitro DM and CP digestibility (%) of TKPER I and II were 67.7 and 64.9, and 64.5 and 58.0, respectively, significantly lower than those of SB and SBM (P < 0.05). We used four wethers (55.6 ± 4.6 kg) with ruminal cannulas to investigate the in situ degradability of TKPER I, SB, SBM and SBCR. At the ruminal outflow rate of 0.05/h, the effective degradability (%) values of the DM and CP of TKPER I were 64.1 and 49.7, respectively, which were similar to those of SBM. In conclusion, TKPER had high CP and exhibited in situ degradability similar to that of SBM, suggesting that TKPER could be used as a protein source feed.

Chemical composition, silage fermentation characteristics, and in vitro ruminal fermentation parameters of potato-wheat straw silage treated with molasses and lactic acid bacteria and corn silage

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of molasses and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on the chemical composition, silage fermentation characteristics, and in vitro ruminal fermentation parameters of an ensiled potato-wheat straw mixture in a completely randomized design with 4 replicates. Wheat straw was harvested at full maturity and potato tuber when the leaves turned yellowish. The potato-wheat straw (57:43 ratio, DM basis) mixture was treated with molasses, LAB, or a combination. Lalsil Fresh LB (Lallemand, France; containing NCIMB 40788) or Lalsil MS01 (Lallemand, France; containing MA18/5U and MA126/4U) were each applied at a rate of 3 × 10 cfu/g of fresh material. Treatments were mixed potato-wheat straw silage (PWSS) without additive, PWSS inoculated with Lalsil Fresh LB, PWSS inoculated with Lalsil MS01, PWSS + 5% molasses, PWSS inoculated with Lalsil Fresh LB + 5% molasses, PWSS inoculated with Lalsil MS01 + 5% molasses, and corn silage (CS). The compaction densities of PWSS treatments and CS were approximately 850 and 980 kg wet matter/m, respectively. After anaerobic storage for 90 d, chemical composition, silage fermentation characteristics, in vitro gas production (GP), estimated OM disappearance (OMD), ammonia-N, VFA, microbial CP (MCP) production, and cellulolytic bacteria count were determined. Compared to CS, PWSS had greater ( < 0.001) values of DM, ADL, water-soluble carbohydrates, pH, and ammonia-N but lower ( < 0.05) values of CP, ash free-NDF (NDFom), ash, nitrate, and lactic, acetic, propionic, and butyric acids concentrations. When PWSS was treated with molasses, LAB, or both, the contents of CP and lactic and acetic acids increased, whereas NDFom, ammonia-N, and butyric acid decreased ( < 0.05). Based on in vitro ruminal experiments, PWSS had greater ( < 0.05) values of GP, OMD, and MCP but lower ( < 0.05) VFA and acetic acid compared to CS. With adding molasses alone or in combination with LAB inoculants to PWSS, the values of GP, OMD, MCP, cellulolytic bacteria population, VFA, and propionic acid increased ( < 0.05), whereas the acetic acid to propionic acid ratio decreased ( < 0.05). Overall, ensiling potato with wheat straw at a 57:43 ratio DM basis was possible; nevertheless, the fermentation quality of PWSS was lesser than that of CS. However, addition of molasses and molasses + LAB improved fermentation quality of PWSS.

Potential Water Retention Capacity as a Factor in Silage Effluent Control: Experiments with High Moisture By-product Feedstuffs

The role of moisture absorptive capacity of pre-silage material and its relationship with silage effluent in high moisture by-product feedstuffs (HMBF) is assessed. The term water retention capacity which is sometimes used in explaining the rate of effluent control in ensilage may be inadequate, since it accounts exclusively for the capacity of an absorbent incorporated into a pre-silage material prior to ensiling, without consideration to how much the pre-silage material can release. A new terminology, ‘potential water retention capacity’ (PWRC), which attempts to address this shortcoming, is proposed. Data were pooled from a series of experiments conducted separately over a period of five years using laboratory silos with four categories of agro by-products (n = 27) with differing moisture contents (highest 96.9%, lowest 78.1% in fresh matter, respectively), and their silages (n = 81). These were from a vegetable source (Daikon, Raphanus sativus), a root tuber source (potato pulp), a fruit source (apple pomace) and a cereal source (brewer’s grain), respectively. The pre-silage materials were adjusted with dry in-silo absorbents consisting wheat straw, wheat or rice bran, beet pulp and bean stalks. The pooled mean for the moisture contents of all pre-silage materials was 78.3% (±10.3). Silage effluent decreased (p<0.01), with increase in PWRC of pre-silage material. The theoretical moisture content and PWRC of pre-silage material necessary to stem effluent flow completely in HMBF silage was 69.1% and 82.9 g/100 g in fresh matter, respectively. The high correlation (r = 0.76) between PWRC of ensiled material and silage effluent indicated that the latter is an important factor in silage-effluent relationship.

Identification of thermo tolerant lactic acid bacteria isolated from silage prepared in the hot and humid climate of Southwestern Japan

To develop high-quality silage starters adapted to hot and humid weather, 12 LAB isolates from silage produced in Kyushu and Okinawa, Japan were characterized based on their morphological features, growth curves and sugar utilization. In addition, the nucleotide sequences of the V2-V3 region of their 16S rRNA genes and the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer (ITS) regions were determined. The isolates were also subjected to RAPD-PCR analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization, G+C content analysis and immuno-identification using species-specific monoclonal antibodies and SDS-PAGE profiling. Nearly all of the isolates exhibited high thermotolerance and rapid growth. Combining ITS sequence analysis, RAPD-PCR and immuno-identification enabled rapid and accurate identification of closely related LAB strains that other methods failed to appropriately differentiate; for example, L. plantarum was distinguished from L. pentosus, and L. casei was distinguished from L. rhamonsus. Using the aforementioned techniques, the isolated strains were identified as L. plantarum, L. rhamonsus, L. rapi, Pediococcus pentosaceus and P. lolii. Our findings also showed that there is greater diversity among thermophilic LABs in silage prepared in a hot and humid environment.

Structural and water-holding characteristics of untreated and ensiled chicory root pulp

Cell wall polysaccharides (CWPs) from chicory root pulp (CRP) and the effect of ensiling on CWP structure to reduce the water-holding capacity (WHC) were studied. Sequential extractions of CRP showed that hot water extraction solubilized arabinan-rich pectin and inulin, each representing 6% of all CRP sugars. A significant amount of pectic sugars (46%) rich in uronic acid from CRP was solubilized by chelating agents. Both dilute alkali extraction, which solubilized branched pectin (14% from CRP), and concentrated alkali extraction, which solubilized hemicellulose dominant in xyloglucans (2.5%) mostly of the XXXG type and mannan (0.9%), from CRP CWPs seemed to influence the WHC of CRP. Alkali-insoluble residue (39% of CRP sugars) mainly comprised cellulose and some branched pectin (17% from CRP). Ensiling reduced the methyl esterification of pectin, caused degradation of homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan, and possibly modified the xyloglucan, mannan, and glucan network, reducing the WHC from 6 mL/g to 3.4 mL/g.