Abstract

CANDELARIA-MARTINEZ, Bernardino; SANDOVAL-PELCASTRE, Adrián; RODRIGUEZ-AVILA, Norma  and  RAMIREZ-MELLA, Mónica. In vitro ruminal fermentation of Muntingia calabura and Bauhinia divaricata foliage alone and in combination with Pennisetum sp. Abanico vet [online]. 2022, vol.12, e2022-1.  Epub June 23, 2023. ISSN 2448-6132.  https://doi.org/10.21929/abavet2022.22.

The objetive of this study was to evaluate the ruminal fermentation characteristics of Bauhinia divaricata and Muntingia calabura foliages alone and combined with Pennisetum sp. Five treatments were evaluated: P = Pennisetum sp. (100%); Mc = M. calabura (100%); Bd = B. divaricata (100%); McP = M. calabura (30%)/Pennisetum sp. (70%), and BdP = B. divaricata (30%)/Pennisetum sp. (70%). The treatments with the highest in vitro dry matter degradability (DMD) were P, BdP, McP and Bd (> 50%) (P≤0.05). There were no significant differences (P> 0.05) in gas production (GP) among treatments Bd, BdP, McP and P; however, Mc produced 35% less gas (P≤0.05) than the other treatments. Conversely, Mc produced 153% more methane (CH4) than Bd (P≤0.05), being Bd and BdP the treatments with the lowest CH4 production. No significant differences (P> 0.05) were observed in volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration, except for acetic acid between Mc and P with Bd, and isovaleric acid between Mc and Bd (P≤0.05). In conclusion, B. divaricata foliage decreased CH4 production and did not negatively affect other ruminal fermentation variables, thus representing a dietary alternative to reduce the ruminal methanogenesis of cattle in the tropics.

Keywords : gas production; methane; secondary metabolites; forage tree; ruminants.

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