The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different doses of the Sanguisorba officinalis tannin extract (SOTE) on in vitro methane production, rumen microorganisms and basic rumen fermentation parameters. SOTE contained 451 mg g-1 of total tannins was tested at different doses (0, 1, 4, 10, 20, 40 and 100 mg of SOTE per vessel; the input of tannins was 0, 1.3, 5.1, 12.8, 25.6, 5...

Despite the fact that the ruminant diet is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), ruminant products - meat, milk and dairy - contain mainly saturated fatty acids (SFA) because of bacterial lipolysis and subsequent biohydrogenation of ingested PUFA in the rumen. The link between SFA consumption by man and coronary heart disease is well established. In contrast, ruminant products also contai...

The majority of workers are agreed that the digestion of carbohydrate in the rumen is brought about by the micro-organisms living there, and furthermore, that the microflora plays a much larger part in these processes than the microfauna, for if the Protozoa are removed by drenching with dilute copper sulphate, the digestive processes continued unhampered (see Van der Wath, 1942). The precise r...

Numerous studies have been made of the quantitative aspects of the production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the rumen, and have been reviewed by Rook (1964), Warner (1964) and Annison (1965). Interest in rumen VFA production has recently been intensified because of the findings correlating body-weight increases with the concentration of rumen VFA in lambs on various pastures (Johns, Ulyatt &...

Microorganisms in the digestive tract of ruminants differ in their functionality and ability to use feed constituents. While cecal microbiota play an important role in post-rumen fermentation of residual substrates undigested in the rumen, limited knowledge exists regarding its structure and function. In this trial we investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with linseed oil and nitra...

A survey of the components of the rumen ciliate population in a series of adult sheep, raised in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Alexandria, has shown that a mixture of Entodinium, Isotricha, Ophryoscolex, Diplodinium, and Polyplastron species was found in the rumen contents of Egyptian sheep; no Epidinium and a negligible number of Dasytricha ruminantium were also observed. The micro...

Binding of IgG antibodies to Entodinium spp. in the rumen of sheep (Ovis aries) was investigated by adding IgG, purified from plasma, directly into the rumen. Plasma IgG was sourced from sheep that had or had not been immunized with a vaccine containing whole fixed Entodinium spp. cells. Ruminal fluid was sampled approximately 2 h after each antibody dosing. Binding of protozoa by a specific an...

Whole-plant barley was reconstituted and treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at the rate of 0, 2, 3 or 4% of dry matter. Rumen-fistulated sheep were used to investigate the effects of treatment on nutrient digestibility and concentration of rumen fluid and plasma metabolites. Treatments increased digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre, cellulose and non-star...

Diversity in the forestomach microbiome is one of the key features of ruminant animals. The diverse microbial community adapts to a wide array of dietary feedstuffs and management strategies. Understanding rumen microbiome composition, adaptation, and function has global implications ranging from climatology to applied animal production. Classical knowledge of rumen microbiology was based on an...

The effect of whole lupin seeds (Lupinus albus cv Lublanc) at 120, 150 and 195 degrees C on in situ nitrogen degradability (Dg.N) was measured by the nylon bag technique using fistulated non-lactating Holstein cows. The N degradation was evaluated in nylon bags suspended in the rumen; heating the seeds at 120, 150 and 195 degrees C decreased the Dg.N value: 83.9, 72.9 and 53.0 respectively vs 9...