Effects of Tithonia diversifolia on in vitro methane production and ruminal fermentation characteristics
S. A. Terry A , R. S. Ribeiro B , D. S. Freitas B , G. D. Delarota B , L. G. R. Pereira C , T. R. Tomich C , R. M. Maurício B and A. V. Chaves A DA The University of Sydney, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
B Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei, Bioengineering Department, São João del-Rei, MG Brazil.
C Embrapa Gado de Leite, Juiz de Fora, Brazil.
D Corresponding author. Email: alex.chaves@sydney.edu.au
Animal Production Science 56(3) 437-441 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN15560
Submitted: 10 September 2015 Accepted: 27 September 2015 Published: 9 February 2016
Abstract
The present study examined the effects of Tithonia diversifolia on in vitro methane (CH4) production and ruminal fermentation characteristics. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomised design (CRD) using a control (0% T. diversifolia) and three treatment groups with different concentrations (6.9%, 15.2%, 29.2%) of T. diversifolia, which replaced up to 15.2% and 14% dry matter (DM) of fresh sugarcane and concentrates, respectively. Ruminal fluid was obtained from two ruminally cannulated non-lactating Holstein × Zebu heifers maintained on a diet consisting of T. diversifolia, fresh sugarcane and 4 kg of concentrates. The inclusion of T. diversifolia had no effect (P ≥ 0.15) on cumulative gas production (mL, mL/g incubated DM, mL/g digested DM) or in vitro DM disappearance (%). Carbon dioxide (%, mL, mL/g incubated DM) linearly decreased (P ≤ 0.001) and CH4 (%, mL, mL/g incubated DM) quadratically increased (P ≤ 0.01) with increasing concentrations of T. diversifolia replacing fresh sugarcane and concentrates. The total volatile fatty acids (mM) and acetate (A) proportion of total volatile fatty acids (mmol/100 mmol) linearly increased (P < 0.01) with the increasing inclusion of T. diversifolia. Butyrate (mmol/100 mmol) increased quadratically (P ≤ 0.02), while propionate (P; mmol/100 mmol) decreased quadratically (P < 0.02). The A : P ratio increased linearly (P < 0.0001) with increasing amounts of T. diversifolia in the diet. These results indicated that increasing the amount of Tithonia diversifolia in the substrate DM increased the A : P ratio, which resulted in a six-fold increase of CH4 production when fresh sugarcane and concentrates were replaced at up to 15.2% and 14% (DM basis), respectively.
Additional keywords: dairy cow, shrub, supplementation, volatile fatty acids.
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