In situ study of the relevance of bacterial adherence to feed particles for the contamination and accuracy of rumen degradability estimates for feeds of vegetable origin

Evaluation of the Feed Nutritional Value of Noni (Morinda citrifolia) Meal for Holstein Dairy Cows

In three consecutive studies, we evaluated the effects of noni (Morinda citrifolia) meal on rumen fermentation and degradation characteristics, production performance, physiological parameters, and milk fatty acid profile in Holstein dairy cows. In in vitro (first study) and in situ (second study) experiments, rumen fluids from two fistulated Holstein dairy cows were used. The concentration of noni meal added was 0 (control), 1, 3, 5, or 7% of the basal diet (DM basis). In the in situ experiment, wheat bran was used as a control. Triplicated bags were incubated for 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72, or 96 h. In an in vivo experiment (third study), 38 Holstein cows (145 ± 87 days DIM; 1.8 ± 0.9 parity; 35.4 ± 6.3 kg/day milk yield) were equally assigned to the control and treatment groups (19 cows each). Basal feed and noni meal pellets (1.5% of total feed DM basis) were fed to the treatment group. The control group was also fed the basal feed and pellets containing 0% noni meal. There were no significant differences in in vitro dry matter digestibility, pH, total gas production (TGP), CH4, NH3-N, and volatile fatty acids (p > 0.05). In the in situ experiments, the crude protein (CP) rapidly soluble fraction ‘a’ (CP-a) was higher in noni meal than in wheat bran, and rumen degradable protein was also higher in noni meal than in wheat bran. In the in vivo experiments, when noni meal pellets were fed, there was no significant difference in milk yield and composition, but the triglyceride levels decreased (p < 0.05), the C18:1 fatty acid level increased (p < 0.05), and the C18:0 fatty acid level decreased (p < 0.05). Collectively, noni meal can be used as a feed ingredient up to 1.5% (total feed DM basis) in Holstein dairy cows and as feed supplementation to increase the C18:1 fatty acid level in milk.

Influence of feeding sunflower seed and meal protected against ruminal fermentation on ruminal fermentation, bacterial composition and in situ degradability in sheep

The effects of treating sunflower seed (SS) and meal (SM), as well as of a mixture of both feeds (SSM; 45:55) with a solution of malic acid (1 M; 400 ml/kg feed) and heating for protection against ruminal degradation were studied. Four rumen-fistulated sheep were fed two mixed diets composed of oat hay and concentrate (40:60) and differing only in the concentrate, that contained either a mixture of untreated SS and SM (control diet) or treated SS and SM (MAH diet). A crossover design with two 24-d experimental periods was used, and each period included 10 d of diet adaptation, 9 d for in situ incubations of SS, SM and SSM, and 5 d for measuring ruminal fermentation characteristics and rumen emptying. From day 6 onwards a solution of (¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄ was continuously infused into the rumen of each sheep to label ruminal bacteria. Feeding the MAH diet did not affect either ruminal pH or concentrations of total volatile fatty acids and NH₃-N, but decreased (p ≤ 0.01) the molar proportions of acetate and propionate and increased those of butyrate (p< 0.001). Organic matter and lipid contents of ruminal bacteria were lower whereas both N content and ¹⁵N enrichment were greater (p ≤ 0.05) in MAH-fed sheep. The in situ effective degradability (ED) of different fractions of SS, SM and SSM were calculated from the ruminal rates of particle comminution and passage, and values were corrected for microbial contamination. The MAH treatment decreased the ED of most fractions for all feeds and increased the supply of by-pass crude protein (CP) by 19.1% and 120% for SS and SM, respectively, and that of fat by 34% for SS. The MAH treatment also increased the in vitro intestinal digestibility of the by-pass CP for both SS (from 60.1% to 75.4%) and SM (from 83.2% to 91.0%). The simultaneous heating of both feeds (SSM) reinforced the protective effect of the MAH treatment and increased the by-pass CP without altering its intestinal digestibility, increasing the intestinally digested CP content by 16.8% compared with the value estimated from the results obtained for MAH-treated SS and SM incubated independently. These results indicate that the MAH treatment was effective to protect sunflower protein against rumen degradation and increased its intestinal digestibility.

Effects of correcting in situ ruminal microbial colonization of feed particles on the relationship between ruminally undegraded and intestinally digested crude protein in concentrate feeds

BACKGROUND

In situ estimates of ruminally undegraded protein (RUP) and intestinally digested protein (IDP) of ten concentrates, uncorrected or corrected for the ruminal microbial colonization, were used to examine the effects of this correction on the relationship between IDP and RUP values. Both variables were established for three rumen and duodenum cannulated wethers using ¹⁵ N labeling-techniques and considering measured rates of ruminal particle comminution (k_c ) and outflow (k_p ).

RESULTS

A covariance analysis showed that the close relationship found between both variables (IDP = -0.0132 ± 0.00679 + 0.776 ± 0.0002 RUP; n = 60; P < 0.001; r = 0.960) is not affected by correcting for microbial colonization (P = 0.682).

CONCLUSION

The IDP content in concentrates and industrial by-products can be predicted from RUP values, thus avoiding the laborious and complex procedure of determining intestinal digestibility; however, a larger sample of feeds is necessary to achieve more accurate predictions. The lack of influence of the correction for microbial contamination on the prediction observed in the present study increases the data available for this prediction. However, only the use of corrected values may provide an accurate evaluation. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Ruminal degradation of cell wall associated nitrogenous compounds of several (15) N-labelled feeds

BACKGROUND

Ruminal in situ effective degradability (ED) of dry matter (DM), neutral (NDF) and acid (ADF) detergent fibres, total-N and NDF (NDIN) and ADF (ADIN) bound-N in sunflower seed (SS), wheat grain (WG) and wheat straw (WS) were measured in three ruminally cannulated sheep, correcting microbial N-contamination using the (15) N dilution technique modified to consider the (15) N supply to adherent bacteria.

RESULTS

The lack of correction for N-contamination under-evaluated ED estimates in 1.52% (total-N), 28.0% (NDIN) and 33.3% (ADIN) in SS and in 1.02% (total-N) and 4.43% (NDIN) in WG. In the remaining cases, this contamination prevented establishing apparent degradation kinetics and, therefore, errors were not measured. Microbial corrected ED estimates in SS were higher in total-N (0.917) than in NDIN (0.559) and ADIN (0.520), which showed similar values. This behaviour was also shown in WS (0.670, 0.386 and 0.426, respectively), whereas decreasing values were shown from total-N (0.917) to NDIN (0.830) and ADIN (0.482) in WG.

CONCLUSION

Results confirm that NDF and ADF procedures failed to remove large fractions of particle adherent microorganisms, under-evaluating the ED of NDIN and ADIN. Degradation of NDIN represented a significant part of the degraded N, whereas ADIN contribution was only negligible in WG. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Sunflower meal and spring pea ruminal degradation protection using malic acid or orthophosphoric acid-heat treatments

The effects of solutions of malic or orthophosphoric acids (0.752 Eqg/kg of feed) and heat to protect proteins of sunflower meal (SFM) and spring pea (SP) against ruminal degradation were studied using particle transit, 15N infusion, in situ and electrophoretic techniques. Three wethers fitted with rumen and duodenum cannulae were successively fed three isoproteic diets including SFM and SP, untreated or treated with malic or orthophosphoric acids. Incubations of tested meals were only performed while feeding the respective diet. Estimates of the ruminally undegraded fraction (RU) and its intestinal digestibility of dry matter, organic matter (only for RU), crude protein and starch (only in SP) were obtained considering ruminal microbial contamination and particle comminution and outflow rates. When corrected for microbial contamination, estimates of RU and intestinal digestibility decreased in all tested fractions for both feeds. All RU estimates increased with the protective treatments, whereas intestinal digestibility-dry matter also increased in SFM. Low intestinal digestibility-crude protein values suggested the presence of antitrypsin factors in SP. Protective treatments of both feeds led to consistent increases in the intestinal digested fraction of dry matter and crude protein, being only numerically different for SP-starch (60.5% as average). However, treatments also reduced the organic matter fermentation, which may decrease ruminal microbial protein synthesis. Electrophoretic studies showed albumin disappearance in both SFM and SP, whereas changes in other RU proteins were more pronounced in SP than SFM.

Protein value of cereals and cereal by-products for ruminants: a comparison between crude protein and protein-based estimates

In situ estimates of ruminal undegraded fraction (RU) and effective intestinal digestibility (EID, corrected for microbial colonisation) of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and total analysed amino acids (TAA) of rye, wheat and corn grains, wheat bran, wheat and barley distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and corn gluten feed were measured on three rumen and duodenum cannulated wethers using (15)N labelling techniques and considering ruminal rates of particle comminution (kc) and outflow. Results indicate that not considering kc and microbial colonisation led to considerable overestimations of RU which increased with feed ruminal degradation. Microbial colonisation may be also associated with overestimations of EID, whose estimates for DM, CP and TAA were predicted from parameters related with the ruminal escape of intestinally indigestible materials. The RU estimates were higher for TAA than for CP in grains, but the opposite was observed in by-products, whereas EID estimates were higher for TAA in all feeds. To obtain accurate protein values in these feedstuffs, it is required to consider both kc and ruminal microbial colonisation. The CP-based results underestimate the intestinally digested protein in grains and the opposite is evidenced in cereal by-products. Microbial protein synthesised in the rumen is largely the major fraction of the feedstuff protein value with the exception of DDGS.

Amino acid availability in ruminants of cereals and cereal co-products

BACKGROUND

Microbial corrected in situ estimates of the ruminal undegraded fraction (RU) and intestinal effective digestibility (IED) of amino acids (AA), except tryptophan, of rye, wheat and corn grains, wheat bran, wheat and barley distilled dried grains and corn gluten feed were measured on three rumen- and duodenum-cannulated wethers using (15)N-labelling techniques and considering ruminal rates of particle comminution and outflow.

RESULTS

The lack of microbial correction led to overestimations of the intestinal digested fraction that rose with the increase in ruminal degradability. Thus these overestimations varied widely among feeds (from 4.3 to 32.1% for total analysed AA) and among AA. Digestion led to large changes in the AA supply that were greater in the rumen than in the intestine. The impact of these changes on the protein value is conditioned by the magnitude of the undegraded protein fraction.

CONCLUSION

Microbial contamination taking place in the rumen and changes in the AA supply with digestion should be considered to attain accurate estimates of AA digestion. Globally, digestion improved the AA supply in rye, wheat and wheat distilled dried grain and decreased it in corn and corn gluten feed by reducing the supply of valine and basic AA, especially lysine.

Effects of the comminution rate and microbial contamination of particles in the rumen on in situ estimates of protein and amino acid digestion of expeller palm kernel and rapeseed meal

BACKGROUND

Microbial corrected effective in situ estimates of ruminal undegraded fraction (RU) and intestinal effective digestibility (IED) of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) of expeller palm kernel (EPK) and rapeseed meal (RSM) were measured on three rumen- and duodenum-cannulated wethers using ¹⁵N labelling techniques and considering ruminal rates of comminution (k(c)) and outflow (k(p)) of particles.

RESULTS

The lack of k(c) and microbial correction overestimated the RU of DM by 4.91% (EPK) and 9.88% (RSM). The lack of this correction also overestimated in both feeds the RU of CP, individual and total (TAA) AA as well as the IED of DM, CP, TAA and most AA. RU estimates were higher for CP than for TAA, but the opposite was observed for IED. The intestinal digested fraction was higher for CP than for TAA: 17.4% (EPK) and 13.8% (RSM). Digestion led to large changes in the essential AA profile in both feeds.

CONCLUSION

The lack of k(c) and microbial correction as well as CP-based results leads to considerable overestimations in the protein use of both feeds. Digestion aggravates the lysine deficiency of EPK but has global positive effects in the absorbed profile of RSM.

Compartmental flux andin situmethods underestimate total feed nitrogen as judged by the omasal sampling method due to ignoring soluble feed nitrogen flow

The objective of the present study was to estimate ruminal feed N outflow in lactating cows using the omasal sampling, compartmental flux orin situmethod. A total of five ruminally fistulated Finnish Ayrshire dairy cows were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square study with 21 d periods. Experimental silages of grass or red clover harvested at two stages of maturity in addition to a supplement of 9·0 kg concentrate/d were fed to the cows.In vivoomasal N flow was determined using the omasal sampling technique. Ruminalin situN flow was calculated from N intake and degradability (38 μm nylon bags). The samples of ruminal contents and faeces were divided into seven particle-size fractions by wet sieving; the concentrations of indigestible neutral-detergent fibre and N were used to calculate N flow in the compartmental flux method.In vivoomasal N flow was greater for the red clover silage diets than for the grass silage diets. The N flow calculated using the compartmental flux technique and that calculated using thein situtechnique were highly correlated, but both were less than and poorly correlated with thein vivoN flow. In bothin situand compartmental flux techniques, forage maturity increased the particle-associated N flow, with the increase being significantly greater for the red clover diets than for the grass silage diets. In conclusion, the compartmental flux andin situmethods described the N flow associated with the particle fractions rather than the total ruminal outflow of feed N.

Effects of the correction of particle microbial contamination and particle transit model in the rumen on in situ protein evaluation of grass hays

Effects of considering the particle comminution rate (kc) in addition to particle rumen outflow (kp) and the ruminal microbial contamination on estimates of by-pass and intestinal digestibility of DM, organic matter and crude protein were examined in perennial ryegrass and oat hays. By-pass kc-kp-based values of amino acids were also determined. This study was performed using particle transit, in situ and 15N techniques on three rumen and duodenum-cannulated wethers. The above estimates were determined using composite samples from rumen-incubated residues representative of feed by-pass. Considering the comminution rate, kc, modified the contribution of the incubated residues to these samples in both hays and revealed a higher microbial contamination, consistently in oat hay and only as a tendency for crude protein in ryegrass hay. Not considering kc or rumen microbial contamination overvalued by-pass and intestinal digestibility in both hays. Therefore, non-microbial-corrected kp-based values of intestinal digested crude protein were overestimated as compared with corrected and kc-kp-based values in ryegrass hay (17.4 vs 4.40%) and in oat hay (5.73 vs 0.19%). Both factors should be considered to obtain accurate in situ estimates in grasses, as the protein value of grasses is very conditioned by the microbial synthesis derived from their ruminal fermentation. Consistent overvaluations of amino acid by-pass due to not correcting microbial contamination were detected in both hays, with large variable errors among amino acids. A similar degradation pattern of amino acids was recorded in both hays. Cysteine, methionine, leucine and valine were the most degradation-resistant amino acids.

Malic acid or orthophosphoric acid-heat treatments for protecting sunflower (Helianthus annuus) meal proteins against ruminal degradation and increasing intestinal amino acid supply

The protection of sunflower meal (SFM) proteins by treatments with solutions of malic acid (1 M) or orthophosphoric acid (0.67 M) and heat was studied in a 3 × 3 Latin-square design using three diets and three rumen and duodenum cannulated wethers. Acid solutions were applied to SFM at a rate of 400 ml/kg under continuous mixing. Subsequently, treated meals were dried in an oven at 150°C for 6 h. Diets (ingested at 75 g/kg BW0.75) were isoproteic and included 40% Italian ryegrass hay and 60% concentrate. The ratio of untreated to treated SFM in the concentrate was 100 : 0 in the control diet and around 40 : 60 in diets including acid-treated meals. The use of acid-treated meals did not alter either ruminal fermentation or composition of rumen contents and led to moderate reductions of the rumen outflow rates of untreated SFM particles, whereas it did not affect their comminution and mixing rate. In situ effective estimates of by-pass (BP) and its intestinal effective digestibility (IED) of dry matter (DM), CP and amino acids (AAs) were obtained considering both rates and correcting the particle microbial contamination in the rumen using 15N infusion techniques. Estimates of BP and IED decreased applying microbial correction, but these variations were low in agreement with the small contamination level. Protective treatments increased on average the BP of DM (48.5%) and CP (267%), mainly decreasing both the soluble fraction and the degradation rate but also increasing the undegradable fraction, which was higher using orthophosphoric acid. Protective treatments increased the IED of DM (108%) and CP, but this increase was lower using orthophosphoric acid (11.8%) than malic acid (20.7%). Concentrations of AA were similar among all meals, except for a reduction in lysine concentrations using malic acid (16.3%) or orthophosphoric acid (20.5%). Protective treatments also increased on average the BP of all AA, as well as the IED of most of them. Evidence of higher increases for those AA showing a high resistance to degradation in the untreated meal were also observed. The total supply of metabolisable AA was increased by 3.87 times for sulphur-containing AA, whereas that of lysine was increased by 2.5 times, mainly because of lysine losses with heat treatments. These treatments and especially that with malic acid would be useful to increase the protein value of these meals but their combined use with lysine-rich protein concentrates would improve the metabolisable protein profile.