1. The effects of a methane inhibitor, ICI 111075, and a propionate enhancer, monensin, were studied using in vitro continuous fermenters. 2. Both compounds increased the yield of substrate energy, carbon and hydrogen in volatile fatty acids (VFA). This was mainly due to an increase in the molar proportion of propionic acid. 3. Improved yields of VFA were accompanied by reductions in methane pr...

.............................................................................................................................. ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................v V...

The effects of disodium fumarate on microbial growth, CH4 production and fermentation of three diets differing in their forage content (800, 500 and 200 g/kg DM) by rumen micro-organisms in vitro were studied using batch cultures. Rumen contents were collected from four Merino sheep. Disodium fumarate was added to the incubation bottles to achieve final concentrations of 0, 4 and 8 mm-fumarate,...

1. The paper describes the development and construction of an apparatus for maintaining a normal microbial population of the rumen under strictly controlled conditions over long periods of time. 2. The apparatus is simple to construct and operate. It is possible to do four replicate experiments at the same time. 3. The results of three experiments are given. The experiments showed that when the...

A model of Mg metabolism in sheep is proposed. It is based on standard Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics to describe the transport of Mg across the rumen wall and passive diffusion to describe the absorption of Mg in the hindgut. Factors known to have an effect on Mg metabolism in farm animals, namely the concentrations of K and Mg in the diet, and the physico-chemical conditions within the rume...

The rumen microbial ecosystem is a complex system where rumen fermentation processes involve interactions among microorganisms. There are important relationships between diet and the ruminal bacterial composition. Thus, we investigated the ruminal fermentation characteristics and compared ruminal bacterial communities using tag amplicon pyrosequencing analysis in Yanbian yellow steers, which we...

Many mammals are herbivores, and most herbivorous mammals live on a diet that makes cellulose digestion essential. The ruminants, which include some of our most important domestic meatand milk-producing animals cattle, sheep and goats have a specialized digestive tract which is highly adapted and has evolved to digest highly fibrous plant materials which nonruminants are unable to utilize. In r...

this study investigated the effect of rumex sc (commercial product which includes of saccharomyces cervisiae, saponin and essential oils) on rumen fermentation, blood glucose, urea, milk yield and milk composition. animals were offered a basal diet containing alfalfa hay (15.5%), corn silage (24%), beet pulp (7%) and concentrate (53.5%). additionally, rumex sc was included in the experimental d...

Mao, H.L., Wu, C.H., Wang, J.K. and Liu, J.X. 2013. Synergistic effect of cellulase and xylanase on in vitro rumen fermentation and microbial population with rice straw as substrate. Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, 13: 477-487. The in vitro gas test was conducted to investigate the effects of cellulase (CEL) and xylanase (XYL) on in vitro rumen fermentation and microbial population with r...

I . The concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the rumen and caecum were compared when sheep were given barley or dried grass. The molar proportions of VFA in the caecum resembled those in the rumen except that the proportions of isobutyric and isovaleric acids were higher in caecal than in rumen fluid indicating an extensive breakdown of protein during fermentation in the caecum. 2. T...