In vitro Evaluation of Sheep Rumen Fermentation Pattern After Adding Different Levels of Eugenol – Fumaric acid Combinations

• Main Authors: T A M Baraka, M A Abdl-Rahman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Veterinary World 2012-04-01
• Series: Veterinary World
• Subjects: Eugenol; Fermentation efficiency; Fumaric acid; Rumen microbes
• Online Access: http://www.scopemed.org/mnstemps/2/2-1323072020.pdf

In vitro gas production technique was used to evaluate the effect of three different levels of eugenol + fumaric acid combinations on rumen fermentation. Rumen contents were collected from five rams immediately after slaughtering and used for preparation of inoculums of mixed rumen microbes that were used in generation of five treatment systems, negative control with no additives (T1), fumaric acid 0.5 mg L–1 (T2) and fumaric acid 0.5 mg L–1 in combination with three different doses of eugenol, 100, 200 and 400 mg L–1 (T3, T4 and T5 respectively). Incubations were conducted in triplicates with gas production, pH, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), total and fractional volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentrations, cellulase activity, amount of substrate degraded, microbial yield (YATP), fermentation efficiency (FE) and VFAs utilization index (NGGR) were determined after 24 hours of incubation. The results revealed that, different levels of eugenol + fumaric acid combinations were associated with decreased pH value, NH3-N concentrations and methane production and increased valeric and isovaleric acids molar proportions. T3 and T4 were associated with increased propionates at the expence of acetates (low A/P), decreased methane production and increased FE, microbial yield (YATP) and VFAs utilization. In contrast, T5 showed decreased total VFAs concentrations, cellulase activity, the amount of substrate degraded, microbial mass generated and VFAs utilization. In conclusion, the authors recommend using 200 mg L–1 eugenol + fumaric acid combination as an alternative for antibiotic feed additives to optimize rumen fermentation pattern. Further investigations are required to apply this work in vivo experiments. [Vet. World 2012; 5(2.000): 110-117]