• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.808-814
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• 2019

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of essential oil mixture (EOM) supplementation on rumen fermentation characteristics and microbial changes in an in vitro. Methods: Three experimental treatments were used: control (CON, no additive), EOM 0.1 (supplementation of 1 g EOM/kg of substrate), and EOM 0.2 (supplementation of 2 g EOM/kg of substrate). An in vitro fermentation experiment was carried out using strained rumen fluid for 12 and 24 h incubation periods. At each time point, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), neutral detergent fiber digestibility (IVNDFD), pH, ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3-N$), and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations, and relative microbial diversity were estimated. Results: After 24 h incubation, treatments involving EOM supplementation led to significantly higher IVDMD (treatments and quadratic effect; p = 0.019 and 0.008) and IVNDFD (linear effect; p = 0.068) than did the CON treatment. The EOM 0.2 supplementation group had the highest $NH_3-N$ concentration (treatments; p = 0.032). Both EOM supplementations did not affect total VFA concentration and the proportion of individual VFAs; however, total VFA tended to increase in EOM supplementation groups, after 12 h incubation (linear; p = 0.071). Relative protozoa abundance significantly increased following EOM supplementation (treatments, p<0.001). Selenomonas ruminantium and Ruminococcus albus (treatments; p<0.001 and p = 0.005), abundance was higher in the EOM 0.1 treatment group than in CON. The abundance of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, fungi and Ruminococcus flavefaciens (treatments; p<0.001, p<0.001, and p = 0.005) was higher following EOM 0.2 treatment. Conclusion: The addition of newly developed EOM increased IVDMD, IVNDFD, and tended to increase total VFA indicating that it may be used as a feed additive to improve rumen fermentation by modulating rumen microbial communities. Further studies would be required to investigate the detailed metabolic mechanism underlying the effects of EOM supplementation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.537-543
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• 1999

Whole horse beans (Vicia faba cv. Alfred) (WHB) were pressure toasted at different temperatures of 100, 118 and $136^{\circ}C$ for 3, 7, 15 and 30 minutes in order to determine an optimal heating conditions to increase bypass starch (BPSt) as glucose source which is usually limiting nutrient in highly producing dairy cows in the Netherlands. Starch (St) Ruminal Degradative Kinetics and Fermentation Characteristics of (SRDC) of WHB were determined using in sacco technique in 4 lactating dairy cows fed 47% hay and 53% concentrate according to Dutch dairy cow requirements. Measured characteristics of St were soluble fraction (S), potentially degradable fraction (D) and rate of degradation (Kd) of insoluble but degradable fraction. Based on measured characteristics, percentage bypass starch (BPSt) was calculated according to the Dutch new feed evaluation system: the DVE/OEB system. Pressure toasting temperatures significantly affected starch gelatinization (p<0.01). Degradability of Starch in the rumen was highly reduced by pressure toasting (p<0.01). S varied from 58.2% in the raw WHB (RWHB as a control) to 19.6% in $136^{\circ}C/15min$. S was reduced rapidly with increasing time and temperature (p<0.01). D varied from 41.8% in RWHB to 80.5% in $136^{\circ}C/15min$. D fraction was enormously increased with increasing time and temperature (p<0.01). Kd varied from 4.9%h in RWHB to 3.4%/h in $136^{\circ}C/15min$. All these effects resulted in increasing %BPSt from 29.0% in RWHB to 53.1% in $136^{\circ}C/15min$. Therefore BPSt increased from 93.5 g/kg in RWHB to 173.5 g/kg in $136^{\circ}C/15min$. The effects of pressure toasting on %BPSt and BPSt seemed to be linear up to the highest values tested. Therefore no optimal pressure toasting conditions could be determined at this stage. But among 10 treatments, The treatment of $136^{\circ}C/15min$was the best with the highest BPSt content. It was concluded that pressure toasting was effective in shifting starch degradation from rumen to small intestine to increase bypass starch.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.244-250
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• 2020

This study investigated the effects of silage additives on rumen fermentation characteristics of rye silage. Rye was harvested at ripening stage and treated with different additives in quadruplicate following: without additive (control), with either lactic acid bacteria inoculant (LAB), formic acid (FA), or Ca-formate (Ca-FA). Overall, ensiling characteristics of FA and Ca-FA silages contained 4-fold more (P<0.05) butyrate and 2-fold more (P<0.05) NH3-N concentration (% total nitrogen) than those of control and LAB silages. Cows fed LAB silage showed a diurnal trend with the highest values of propionate concentration compared to the control at 1, 2 and 3 hr after feeding. In contrast, FA and Ca-FA silages increased the proportion of butyrate significantly (P<0.05) at all sampling times compared to control and LAB silage. In conclusion, Forage rye treated with FA or Ca-FA showed different fermentation characteristics during ensilage and in the rumen compared to LAB silage. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether different fermentation characteristics in the rumen between LAB and FA silages had effect on partitioning of nutrients between milk production and body tissue.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.625-634
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• 2004

The objective of this experiment is to study the possibility of lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) enzyme to prevent lactate accumulation in the rumen, For understanding capacity of bacterial LDH in rumen environments, this study was conducted to explore the effects of temperature, pH, VFAs and metal ions on Lactobacillus sp. FFy111-1's LDH activity, and the LDH activation in rumen fluid accumulated lactate. The optimum pH and temperature of LDH were pH 7.5 and 40$^{\circ}C$, respectively. The LDH activity had a good thennostability at range from 30 to 50$^{\circ}C$. The highest pH stability of the enzyme was at ranges from pH 7.0 to 8.0 and the enzyme activities showed above 64% level of non-treated one at pH 6.0 and 6.5. The LDH was inactivated by VFAs treatments but was enhanced by metal ion treatments without NaCl and $CuSO_4$ Especially, the LDH activity was increased to 127% and 124% of its original activity by 2 mM of $BaCl_2$ and $MnSO_4$, addition, respectively. When the acidic rumen fluid was treated by LDH enzyme of Lactobacillus sp. FFy111-1, the lactate concentration in the rumen fluid was lower compared with non-treated rumen fluid(P<0.05). This lactate reduction was resulted from an action of LDH. It was proved by result of purified D,L-LDH addition that showed the lowest lactate concentration among the treatments(P<0.05). Although further investigation of microbial LDH and ruminal lactate is needed, these findings suggest that the bacterial LDH has the potential capability to decrease the lactate accumulated in an acidic rumen fluid. Also, screening of super LDH producing bacteria and technical development for improving enzyme activity in rumen environment are essential keys for practical application.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.125-135
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• 2019

Late-maturing Dark Horse, and early-maturing High Speed oat varieties were seeded on March 3, 2016 and harvested on three periods: May 31, June 10, and June 20 coded as early, mid, and late-harvest, respectively. Dried and ground samples were subjected to chemical analysis to determine nutritional values such as crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), ether extract (EE), organic matter (OM), and total digestible nutrient (TDN). Effective degradability (ED) of nutrients and fermentation characteristics including volatile fatty acid (VFA) composition, pH, gas production, and ammonia-N concentration were evaluated through an in vitro digestion method. Varieties of oat hays showed significant difference in terms of nutritional value, ED, and fermentation characteristics. Dark Horse showed higher CP and OM, and lower EE contents than High Speed. Dark Horse also showed higher EDDM (dry matter), NDF, ADF, and OM than High Speed, and although High Speed showed higher pH and ammonia-N, it had lower gas and total VFA production than Dark Horse. However, in terms of harvest period, significant difference was only observed in Dark Horse where early-harvest increased the CP, and late-harvest increased the NDF and OM contents. In addition, early-harvest of Dark Horse increased the EDDM and EDNDF of the forage. Therefore, early-harvest of late-maturing Dark Horse would give better nutrient efficiency than High Speed. Allowing Dark Horse to advance in maturity would decrease its nutrient productivity and efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.1127-1136
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• 2013

Four rumen-fistulated crossbred beef cattle (Brahman native) were randomly assigned according to a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design experiment to be fed plant herb supplements in their concentrate mixture. The treatments were: without herb supplementation (Control), lemongrass meal supplementation at 100 g/d (L), lemongrass meal supplementation at 100 g/d plus peppermint powder at 10 g/d (LP), and lemongrass meal supplementation at 100 g/d plus peppermint powder at 10 g/d with garlic powder 40 g/d (LPG), respectively. Based on the present study, the DMI and apparent digestibility of DM, OM, aNDF and ADF were not affected by dietary herb supplementation while CP digestibility tended to be decreased by herb supplement. Moreover, $NH_3$-N and BUN were decreased in all herb supplemented treatments and there was a tendency to an increase in ruminal pH in all herb supplemented groups. While there was no change in TVFA and C4 among lemongrass treatments, C2 was decreased in all herb supplemented treatments while C3 was increased. Methane production by calculation was the lowest in the LP and LPG groups. Population sizes of bacteria and protozoa were decreased in all herb supplemented groups, but not fungal zoospores. In all supplemented groups, total viable and proteolytic bacteria were decreased, while amylolytic and cellulolytic bacteria were similar. More importantly, in all herb supplemented groups, there were higher N balances, while there was no difference among treatments on purine derivative (PD) excretion or microbial N. Based on the results above, it could be concluded that there was no negative effect on ruminal fermentation characteristics and nutrient utilization by plant herb supplement, but protozoal population and $CH_4$ production were reduced. Thus, lemongrass alone or in combination with peppermint and garlic powder could be used as feed additives to improve rumen fermentation efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1088-1097
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• 2014

The study aimed to investigate the effects of gynosaponin on in vitro methanogenesis under different forage-concentrate ratios (F:C ratios). Experiment was conducted with two kinds of F:C ratios (F:C = 7:3 and F:C = 3:7) and gynosaponin addition (0 mg and 16 mg) in a $2{\times}2$ double factorial design. In the presence of gynosaponin, methane production and acetate concentration were significantly decreased, whereas concentration of propionate tended to be increased resulting in a significant reduction (p<0.05) of acetate:propionate ratio (A:P ratio), in high-forage substrate. Gynosaponin treatment increased (p<0.05) the butyrate concentration in both F:C ratios. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis showed there was no apparent shift in the composition of total bacteria, protozoa and methanogens after treated by gynosaponin under both F:C ratios. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis indicated that variable F:C ratios significantly affected the abundances of Fibrobacter succinogenes, Rumninococcus flavefaciens, total fungi and counts of protozoa (p<0.05), but did not affect the mcrA gene copies of methanogens and abundance of total bacteria. Counts of protozoa and abundance of F.succinogenes were decreased significantly (p<0.05), whereas mcrA gene copies of methanogens were decreased slightly (p<0.10) in high-forage substrate after treated by gynosaponin. However, gynosaponin treatment under high-concentrate level did not affect the methanogenesis, fermentation characteristics and tested microbes. Accordingly, overall results suggested that gynosaponin supplementation reduced the in vitro methanogenesis and improved rumen fermentation under highforage condition by changing the abundances of related rumen microbes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.200-206
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• 2015

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of intraruminal infusion of propionate on ruminal fermentation characteristics and blood hormones and metabolites in Hanwoo (Korean cattle) steers. Four Hanwoo steers (average body wt. 270 kg, 13 month of age) equipped with rumen cannula were infused into rumens with 0.0 M (Water, C), 0.5 M (37 g/L, T1), 1.0 M (74 g/L, T2) and 1.5 M (111 g/L, T3) of propionate for 1 hour per day and allotted by $4{\times}4$ Latin square design. On the 5th day of infusion, samples of rumen and blood were collected at 0, 60, 120, 180, and 300 min after intraruminal infusion of propionate. The concentrations of serum glucose and plasma glucagon were not affected (p>0.05) by intraruminal infusion of propionate. The serum insulin concentration at 60 min after infusion was significantly (p<0.05) higher in T3 than in C, while the concentration of non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) at 60 and 180 min after infusion was significantly (p<0.05) lower in the propionate treatments than in C. Hence, intraruminal infusion of propionate stimulates the secretion of insulin, and decreases serum NEFA concentration rather than the change of serum glucose concentration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.188-199
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• 2015

Nineteen tanniferous browse plants were collected from South Africa to investigate their digestibility, gas production (GP) characteristics and methane production. Fresh samples were collected, dried in forced oven, and ground and analyzed for nutrient composition. In vitro GP and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) were determined using rumen fluid collected, strained and anaerobically prepared. A semi-automated system was used to measure GP by incubating the sample in a shaking incubator at $39^{\circ}C$. There was significant (p<0.05) variation in chemical composition of studied browses. Crude protein (CP) content of the species ranged from 86.9 to 305.0 g/kg dry matter (DM). The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) ranged from 292.8 to 517.5 g/kg DM while acid detergent fiber (ADF) ranged from 273.3 to 495.1 g/kg DM. The ash, ether extract, non-fibrous carbohydrate, neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen, and acid detergent insoluble nitrogen and CP were negatively correlated with methane production. Methane production was positively correlated with NDF, ADF, cellulose and hemi-cellulose. Tannin decreased GP, IVOMD, total volatile fatty acid and methane production. The observed low methanogenic potential and substantial ammonia generation of some of the browses might be potentially useful as rumen manipulating agents. However, a systematic evaluation is needed to determine optimum levels of supplementation in a mixed diet in order to attain a maximal depressing effect on enteric $CH_4$ production with a minimal detrimental effect on rumen fermentation of poor quality roughage based diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1705-1711
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of ruminally protected amino acids (RPAAs) and ruminally protected fat (RPF) supplementation on ruminal fermentation characteristics (in vitro) and milk yield and milk composition (in vivo). Fourteen mid-lactating Holstein dairy cows (mean weight $653{\pm}62.59kg$) were divided into two groups according to mean milk yield and number of days of postpartum. The cows were then fed a basal diet during adaptation (2 wk) and experimental diets during the treatment period (6 wk). Dietary treatments were i) a basal diet (control) and ii) basal diet containing 50 g of RPAAs (lysine and methionine, 3:1 ratio) and 50 g of RPF. In rumen fermentation trail (in vitro), RPAAs and RPF supplementation had no influence on the ruminal pH, dry matter digestibility, total volatile fatty acid production and ammonia-N concentration. In feeding trial (in vivo), milk yield (p<0.001), 4% fat corrected milk (p<0.05), milk fat (p<0.05), milk protein (p<0.001), and milk urea nitrogen (p<0.05) were greater in cows fed RPAAs and RPF than the corresponding values in the control group. With an index against as 0%, the rates of decrease in milk yield and milk protein were lower in RPAAs and RPF treated diet than those of basal diet group (p<0.05). In conclusion, diet supplemented with RPAAs and RPF can improve milk yield and milk composition without negatively affecting ruminal functions in Holstein dairy cows at mid-lactating.