Effects of Stylosanthes scabra Forage Supplementation on in Vitro Gas Production and Fiber Degradation of Eragrostis Grass Hay

Natural pastures constitute a major component of ruminant livestock feed, and are the most cost-effective feed resource available for smallholder subsistence farmers. However, this feed resource does not meet animal nutritional requirement due to deficiency in nitrogen, energy and minerals. In addition, at maturity lignification is the major concern since it reduces digestibility and contributes to methane emission. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of supplementing low-quality Eragrostis grass hay with five (9281, 11,252, 11,255, 11,595 and 11,604) selected Stylosanthes scabra accessions on in vitro ruminal fermentation and neutral detergent fiber degradation. Therefore, in vitro study was conducted on grass hay, accessions and the mixture of grass hay with each accession included at two (15%, 30%) levels. The substrates (grass hay, accessions and the mixtures) were incubated in separate serum bottles for 72 h. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) of the accessions ranged from 300 to 350 g/kg DM with crude protein (CP) value ranging from 177.5 to 184.1 g/kg DM. Eragrostis grass hay had NDF value of 813 g/kg DM, with CP value of 34.3 g/kg DM. Grass hay fermented slowly, it took 30 h for grass hay to produce gas volume above 50 mL, while Stylosanthes scabra accessions took 12 h. Supplementing grass hay with accessions significantly improved fermentation. However, it was observed that 15% inclusion took 30 h to produce gas volume above 50 mL, whereas at 30% inclusions it took 24 h for accession 9281, 11,595 and 11,604. Accession 11,604 improve grass fermentation by almost three times the value of grass hay in 2 h. Grass hay supplemented with accession 11,604 at 30% had a positive associative effect and significantly improved NDF degradability. In conclusion, accession 11,604 may be fed strategically as forage supplement to low-quality forage for ruminants.

Effects of yeast and yeast cell wall polysaccharides supplementation on beef cattle growth performance, rumen microbial populations and lipopolysaccharides production

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of live yeast and yeast cell wall polysaccharides on growth performance,rumen function and plasma lipopolysaccharides(LPS) content and immunity parameters of beef cattle.Forty Qinchuan cattle were randomly assigned to one of four treatments with 10 replicates in each treatment.The dietary treatments were: control diet(CTR),CTR supplemented with 1 g live yeast(2×10^10 live cell g^-1 per cattle per day(YST1),CTR supplemented with 2 g live yeast per cattle per day(YST2) and CTR supplemented with 20 g of yeast cell wall polysaccharides(30.0%≤β-glucan≤35.0%,and 28.0%≤mannanoligosaccharide≤32.0%) per cattle per day(YCW).The average daily gain was higher(P=0.023) and feed conversion ratio was lower(P=0.042) for the YST2 than the CTR.The digestibility of neutral detergent fiber(P=0.039) and acid detergent fiber(P=0.016) were higher in yeast supplemented groups.The acetic acid:propionic acid of the YST2 was lower compared with the CTR(P=0.033).Plasma LPS(P=0.032),acute phase protein haptoglobin(P=0.033),plasma amyloid A(P=0.015) and histamine(P=0.038) were lower in the YST2 compared with the CTR.The copies of fibrolytic microbial populations such as Fibrobacter succinogenes S85,Ruminococcus albus 7 and Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1 of the YST2 were higher(P<0.001),while the copies of typical lactate producing bacteria Streptococcus bovis JB1 was lower(P<0.001) compared with the CTR.Little differences were observed between the CTR,YST1 and YCW in growth performance,ruminal fermentation characteristics,microbial populations,immunity indices and total tract nutrient digestibility.It is concluded that the YST2 could promote fibrolytic microbial populations,decrease starch-utilizing bacteria,reduce LPS production in the rumen and LPS absorption into plasma and decrease inflammatory parameters,which can lead to an improvement in growth performance in beef cattle.

Napier Grass Rumen Degradability in Sacco in Goats (<i>Capra hircus aegagrus</i>) Supplemented with Different Sources and Amount of Dietary Fats

The study aimed to explore the potential of dietary fats supplementation on the overall goat performance. Three (3) mature rumen-cannulated goats weighting 27.33 ± 1.53 kg housed in individual elevated metabolism stalls with customized fecal and urine collection tools with treatments replicated three times over time following the Complete Randomized Design (CRD). Animals were randomly selected on different dietary treatment at different cycle. For each cycle, animals were provided with 30% concentrate on the morning based on feed requirements {3% of their body weight (BW) dry matter (DM) basis} of the animals. Ad libitum feeding of Napier grass will follow thereafter. Clean drinking water were made available all the times in the respective animal watering troughs. The rumen-cannulated goats were supplemented with different levels of two dietary fats (VCO and Lard) with dietary treatment combinations as follows, Control and VCO and Lard at 3% & 5%. Degradability of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were collected sequentially in every cycle of the study. There were seven (7) days lag period in every cycle for the animals to return to each natural state. On the 8th day of every cycle, animals were given different dietary treatment. Sequential insertion of nylon bag was done on the 15th to 16th day (7 days after treatment). The results showed that degradability of the dry matter (DM) was noticed degraded exponentially on the first twelve hours of incubation and slower down in the next few hours until 48 hours. Crude protein, acid and neutral detergent fiber showed breakdown of components was observed in the first 48 hours of incubation. No significant difference (P > 0.05) among treatment means was observed in all parameters gathered. This implies that mature female goat diet cannot be influenced by dietary fats from two different sources (VCO and Lard) at 3% to 5% supplementation. Based on the study conducted, dietary fats supplementation on goats such as VCO and lard given at the maximum level of 5% level did not influence the nutrient degradability of Napier grass in the rumen until it reaches at 48 hours of incubation. Supplementing ruminant diets with dietary fat in goats could increase the energy density of the animal’s diet without adverse effect on rumen degradability. This simple, easy, and basic technique could also be applied to other animal species in pursuit of finding ways to formulate indigenous feedstuff materials that have potential nutritive values. Given the limitations such as the climatic and environmental constraints, this particular study would somehow serve as benchmark in conducting related researches in optimizing the conditions with respect to animal nutrition and feedstuff utilization. Thus, this study was done to augment productivity and to provide new opportunities for achieving enhanced growth performance in a way that alleviates poverty, improves food security and nutrition and promotes sustainable use of natural resources.