• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.5-11
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• 1993

First crop of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) was harvested, wilted and ensiled with or without NaOH or $NH_3$, and fed to three rumen fistulated goats in a $3{\times}3$ Latin-square design. Each alkali treatment (2.44% of alfalfa dry matter) was made by spraying its solution prior to ensiling. Silage pH, $NH_3-N$ and butyric acid concentration were increased with each alkali addition, and NaOH-treated silage showed the lowest chemical quality. Compared with untreated silage, digestibilities of organic matter, ADF and cellulose were depressed by both alkali treatments, and the reductions in NaOH-treated silage were significant. Crude protein digestibility was also significantly decreased in NaOH-treated silage, but the goats receiving the silage excreted less nitrogen in urine than those on the other two silages. Nitrogen retention of goats was not different among the treatments. Ruminal solubility and potential degradability of dry matter and nitrogen determined with the in situ bag technique were reduced, and rate of degradation of the two components were increased by the NaOH treatment. Addition of $NH_3$ provided ruminal soluble nitrogen to the silage, but the rate of degradation was similar to that of untreated silage. These results suggest that NaOH treatment would denature the protein and reduce the susceptibility to microbial degradation in the rumen, while no positive effect of alkali treatment on fiber digestion and nitrogen utilization was observed in this study.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.189-194
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• 2019

The normal feeding approach of goats might be due to their precise anatomical and physiological characteristics of entity, which permit them to be highly selective, to eat legume silages and wild green grass. This review has been designed to consider the grazing behavior, fodder selection, and feed composition of goats. Various herbs and corns consumed by goats have numerous nutritive resources. Based on the general herbaceous intake activities and behavior of goats, they prefer wild grass such as grass grown in the steep hills than soft grass. Because the digestion capacity of cellulose feed has higher digestion level compared to other non-ruminants within rumen and it is advantageous to use wild forest or mountain grass which comprises high proportion of cellulose feed for goat. In South Korea, there are abundant feed resources for goats because of occupying large areas of mountains. Thus, goat production and feeding costs could be reduced if plants are used from the wild forest as a feed for goats relative to grassland grazing. Also, it is expected to contribute in improvement of goat farming with harmonious relationship between the grassland and wild forest while satisfying animal welfare and physiological desires of livestock.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1276-1281
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• 2013

An in vitro experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of methylcellulose on the attachment of major cellulolytic bacteria on rice straw and its digestibility. Rice straw was incubated with ruminal mixture with or without 0.1% methylcellulose (MC). The attachment of F. succinogenes, R. flavefaciens and R. albus populations on rice straw was measured using real-time PCR with specific primer sets. Methylcellulose at the level of 0.1% decreased the attachment of all three major cellulolytic bacteria. In particular, MC treatment reduced (p<0.05) attachment of F. succinogenes on rice straw after 10 min of incubation while a significant reduction (p<0.05) in attachment was not observed until 4 h incubation in the case of R. flavefaciens and R. albus. This result indicated F. succinogenes responded to MC more sensitively and earlier than R. flavefaciens and R. albus. Dry matter digestibility of rice straw was subsequently inhibited by 0.1% MC, and there was a significant difference between control and MC treatment (p<0.05). Incubated cultures containing MC had higher pH and lower gas production than controls. Current data clearly indicated that the attachment of F. succinogenes, R. flavefaciens and R. albus on rice straw was inhibited by MC, which apparently reduced rice straw digestion.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.355-365
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• 2004

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) treatment (1% NaOH+1.5% $H_2O_2$; 1 AHPMS, 2% NaOH+1.5% $H_2O_2$; 2AHPMS) on rate and extent of degradation of mustard straw (MS) in sacco in sheep, and its in vivo digestion and ruminal fermentation characteristics when fed to sheep with concentrate (200 g per sheep daily). The treatment of straw with 1 and 2% AHP increased its sodium content by 148 and 296% to that of untreated straw (UMS). There was significant decrease in NDF and hemicellulose contents of AHP treated straw and increase in cellulose and lignin contents. Phenolic acids like ferrulic, $\rho$-coumaric and o-coumaric significantly (p<0.001) reduced by AHP treatment of mustard straw. In first experiment the in sacco degradation of DM, OM and NDF was significantly (p<0.01) greater for 2 AHPMS than for UMS at all incubation periods. The disappearance of nutrient from 1 AHPMS and 2 AHPMS treated straws continue to increase up to 96 h whereas in UMS the peak disappearance was found at 48 h. By using the equation {(y=a+b) ($1-e^{-ct}$)} the degradation rates (c) for DM, OM, and NDF were significantly higher for UMS than AHP treated straws. Level of alkali (1 and 2%) had significant effect on degradation characteristics (a, b, c and $P_{0.05}$) of DM and NDF fraction of MS. However, the effect was not pronounced on OM fraction of MS. In feeding experiment, the intake of nutrients for DM, OM, cell wall constituents and energy was higher on 2 AHPMS, whereas no effect on the digestibility of these nutrients was observed. The apparent nitrogen retention was higher (p<0.05) both in 1 and 2 AHPMS groups. Water intake by animals was significantly increased due to AHP treated mustard straw feeding. Rumen liquor pH was higher in 2 AHPMS fed animals. The $NH_3-N$ of rumen liquor was not affected by feeding of AHP treated MS based diets. Total VFA concentration was significantly (p<0.01) higher in UMS fed group. The fractional out flow rate of DM was higher (p<0.05) in animals fed on 2 AHPMS diets compared to UMS and lAHPMS fed groups. The population of large holotrichs was higher (p<0.05) on AHP treated MS fed diets compared to UMS. The study indicated that treatment of mustard straw with AHP changed its chemical composition towards a better feed. The nutritive value of 2% AHP treated mustard straw was better in terms of dry matter intake and apparent nitrogen retention. The higher in sacco DM, OM and NDF disappearance however, was not confirmed by in vivo data in this study.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.515-523
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• 2012

The study investigated the biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay of cellulose supplementing with mixed methanogens and cellulolytic bacteria to improve anaerobic digestion for methane production. For the BMP assay, 7 different microbial supplementation groups were consisted of the cultures of mixed methanogens (M), Fibrobacter succinogenes (FS), Ruminococcus flavefaciensn (RF), R. albus (RA), RA+FS and M+RA+FS including control. The cultures were added in the batch reactors with the increasing dose levels of 1% (0.5 mL), 3% (1.5 mL) and 5% (2.5 mL). Incubation for the BMP assay was carried out for 40 days at $38^{\circ}C$ and anaerobic digestate obtained from an anaerobic digester with pig slurry as inoculum was used. In results, 5% FS increased total biogas and methane production up to 10.4~22.7% and 17.4~27.5%, respectively, compared to other groups (p<0.05). Total solid (TS) digestion efficiency showed a similar trend to the total biogas and methane productions. Generally the TS digestion efficiency of the FS group was higher than that of other groups showing at the highest value of 64.2% in the 5% FS group. Volatile solid (VS) digestion efficiencies of 68.4 and 71.0% in the 5% FS and the 5% RF were higher than other groups. After incubation, pH values in all treatment groups were over 6.4 indicating that methanogensis was not inhibited during the incubation. In conclusion, the results indicated that the hydrolysis stage for methane production in anaerobic batch reactors was the late-limiting stage compared with the methanogenesis stage, and especially, as the supplementation levels of F. succinogenes supplementation increased, the methane production was increased in the BMP assay compared with other microbial culture addition.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.1940-1950
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• 2021

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the effects of maize straw treated with calcium oxide (CaO) and various moisture, on the composition and molecular structure of the fiber, and gas production by fermentation in an in vitro rumen environment. Methods: The experiment used 4×3 Factorial treatment. Maize straws were treated with 4 concentrations of CaO (0%, 3%, 5%, and 7% of dry straw weight) and 3 moisture contents (40%, 50%, and 60%). Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy were employed to measure the surface texture, secondary molecular structure of carbohydrate, and calcium (Ca) content of the maize straw, respectively. The correlation of secondary molecular structures and fiber components of maize straw were analyzed by CORR procedure of SAS 9.2. In vitro rumen fermentation was performed for 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h to measure gas production. Results: Overall, the moisture factor had no obvious effect on the experimental results. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber, acid detergent lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose contents decreased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrations of CaO treatment. Surface and secondary molecular structure of maize straw were affected by various CaO and moisture treatments. NDF had positive correlation (p<0.01) with Cell-H (H, height), Cell-A (A, area), CHO-2-H. Hemicellulose had positive correlation (p<0.01) with Lignin-H, Lignin-A, Cell-H, Cell-A. Ca content of maize straw increased as the concentration of CaO was increased (p<0.01). Gas production was highest in the group treated with 7% CaO. Conclusion: CaO can adhere to the surface of the maize straw, and then improve the digestibility of the maize straw in ruminants by modifying the structure of lignocellulose and facilitating the maize straw for microbial degradation.