Feeding Damascus goats humic or fulvic acid alone or in combination: in vitro and in vivo investigations on impacts on feed intake, ruminal fermentation parameters, and apparent nutrients digestibility.

In vitro and in vivo experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of the supplementation of different levels of humic and fulvic acids alone or their combination (2:1 ratio) on ruminal fermentation constituents, and nutrients digestibility in goats. The treatments in Exp. 1 were the following: (1) basal substrate (50% concentrate: 50% forage) was incubated humic at 0, 2, 4, and 6 g/kg DM; (2) fulvic at 0, 1, 2, and 3 g/kg DM; and (3) a combination of humic and fulvic (in a 2:1 ratio) at 0, 3, 6, and 9 g/kg DM" of treatments. The results of Exp. 1 revealed that methane (CH4) production was linearly decreased (P < 0.001) upon increasing humic doses. Whereas, the combination of fulvic acid with humic acid resulted in a quadratic decrease (P < 0.001) in net CH4 production. Supplementing humic and fulvic acids, either separately or in combination, resulted in reduced (P < 0.05) ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations. In Exp. 2 to further examine the findings obtained in Exp. 1, forty Damascus non-lactating goats (2-3 years of age and body weight 29 ± 1.5 kg) were fed the same basal diet as in Exp. 1, plus one of four treatments. Treatments were the following: (1) control (no supplement); (2) basal diet plus 5 g humic alone; (3) basal diet plus 2.5 g fulvic alone, and (4) basal diet plus 7.5 g their combination. Goats fed diets supplemented with humic acid, fulvic acid, either alone or in combination, increased concentrations of butyrate (P = 0.003), total VFA (P < 0.001), and improved (P < 0.001) digestibility of nutrients, but reduced (P < 0.001) ruminal NH3-N concentrations. In conclusion, applying humic and fulvic acids alone or in combination attenuated in vitro CH4 production, while improved intake and diet digestibility without adverse effect on rumen fermentation profiles in Damascus goats.

Potential of montmorillonite modified by an organosulfur surfactant for reducing aflatoxin B1 toxicity and ruminal methanogenesis in vitro.

BACKGROUND: Montmorillonite clay modified by organosulfur surfactants possesses high cation exchange capacity (CEC) and adsorption capacity than their unmodified form (UM), therefore they may elevate the adverse impact of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on ruminal fermentation and methanogenesis. Chemical and mechanical modifications were used to innovate the organically modified nano montmorillonite (MNM). The UM was modified using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and grounded to obtain the nanoscale particle size form. The dose-response effects of the MNM supplementation to a basal diet contaminated or not with AFB1 (20 ppb) were evaluated in vitro using the gas production (GP) system. The following treatments were tested: control (basal diet without supplementations), UM diet [UM supplemented at 5000 mg /kg dry matter (DM)], and MNM diets at low (500 mg/ kg DM) and high doses (1000 mg/ kg DM). RESULTS: Results of the Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy analysis showed shifts of bands of the OH-group occurred from lower frequencies to higher frequencies in MNM, also an extra band at the lower frequency range only appeared in MNM compared to UM. Increasing the dose of the MNM resulted in linear and quadratic decreasing effects (P < 0.05) on GP and pH values. Diets supplemented with the low dose of MNM either with or without AFB1 supplementation resulted in lower (P = 0.015) methane (CH4) production, ruminal pH (P = 0.002), and ammonia concentration (P = 0.002) compared to the control with AFB1. Neither the treatments nor the AFB1 addition affected the organic matter or natural detergent fiber degradability. Contamination of AFB1 reduced (P = 0.032) CH4 production, while increased (P < 0.05) the ruminal pH and ammonia concentrations. Quadratic increases (P = 0.012) in total short-chain fatty acids and propionate by MNM supplementations were observed. CONCLUSION: These results highlighted the positive effects of MNM on reducing the adverse effects of AFB1 contaminated diets with a recommended dose of 500 mg/ kg DM under the conditions of this study.

Effect of Dietary Rosemary and Ginger Essential Oils on the Growth Performance, Feed Utilization, Meat Nutritive Value, Blood Biochemicals, and Redox Status of Growing NZW Rabbits.

This study was conducted to assess the impacts of using two essential oils, rosemary and ginger, on growing rabbits' performance, carcass traits, meat composition, blood biochemicals, and the redox status of growing New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. A total of 120 unsexed NZW rabbits, 42-days-old, were assigned randomly to five experimental groups (n = 24, 6 replicates with 4 rabbits each). The first group received a basal diet (control), the second to fifth groups were dietary supplemented daily with rosemary essential oil (REO) and ginger essential oil (GEO) at doses of 0.25 and 0.5% for each supplementation (REO-0.25, REO-0.5, GEO-0.25, and GEO-0.5), respectively. The growth traits were studied for 7 weeks, from the 7th to the 13th week of the rabbits' age. The results revealed that final body weight, weight gain, and average daily gain increased significantly (p < 0.01) in the REO-0.5 and GEO-0.5 treatments compared to the control group. Daily feed intake decreased (p = 0.005) in essential oil treatments. Meanwhile, the feed conversion ratio improved significantly (p = 0.001) in REO and GEO at the high doses compared to the control group. The weight percentages of liver and giblets increased (p < 0.001) with both treatments of REO and GEO compared to the control group. The dietary supplementation with REO and GEO did not affect (p > 0.05) the meat composition of Longissimus dorsi and hind leg muscles. Meanwhile, REO and GEO supplementation significantly decreased cholesterol levels in the rabbit meat. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance concentrations decreased by 10 and 15% in the meat of REO-0.5 and GEO-0.5 treatments, respectively, compared to the other groups. In the same trend, REO and GEO treatments induced a significant (p = 0.001) reduction in the plasma cholesterol concentrations and triglycerides compared to the control. The total antioxidant capacity increased by 7.60% and the malondialdehyde decreased by 11.64% in the plasma of GEO-0.5 treatment than the control. Thus, the dietary supplementation of REO and GEO have a beneficial effect in improving the productivity and meat quality of growing rabbits.

Modified Nano-Montmorillonite and Monensin Modulate In Vitro Ruminal Fermentation, Nutrient Degradability, and Methanogenesis Differently.

Two types of modified nano-montmorillonite (MNM) were developed by ion-exchange reactions using two different surfactants; sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CETAB), to prepare MNMSDS and MNMCETAB, respectively. Both MNM types were on the nano-scale and had higher cation-exchange capacity values than NM clay. The MNMCETAB had the highest zeta potential (-27 mV) compared with the other clays. Effects of MNM types on in vitro ruminal batch culture fermentation, nutrient degradability, and methane (CH4) emission compared with monensin were evaluated in vitro using a semi-automatic gas production system. The experimental treatments were the control (0 supplementations), monensin (40 mg/kg DM), and NM (5 g NM/kg DM), and two levels of MNMSDS and MNMCETAB were supplemented at 0.05 (low) and 0.5 (high) g/kg DM to the control basal feed substrate. Among the experimental treatments, the high dose of both MNM types reduced (p < 0.01) CH4 production and ammonia concentrations compared with the control, while only MNMCETAB treatment tended to increase (p = 0.08) the truly degraded organic matter compared with monensin. All MNM treatments increased (p < 0.01) acetate molar proportions compared with monensin. The high MNMCETAB increased (p < 0.01) the in vitro ruminal batch culture pH compared with the control and monensin. The MNMCETAB supplemented at 0.5 g/kg DM is the most efficient additive to reduce CH4 emission with the advantage of enhancing the in vitro nutrient degradability of the experimental feed substrate. These results indicated that MNM could modulate the in vitro ruminal fermentation pattern in a dose- and type-dependent manner.

In Vitro and In Vivo Assessment of Dietary Supplementation of Both Natural or Nano-Zeolite in Goat Diets: Effects on Ruminal Fermentation and Nutrients Digestibility.

This study aimed to evaluate in vitro and in vivo dietary supplementation with different levels of natural or nano-zeolite forms on rumen fermentation patterns and nutrient digestibility. In the in vitro experiment, a basal diet (50% concentrate: 50% forage) was incubated without additives (control) and with natural zeolite (10, 20, 30 g/kg DM) or nano-zeolite (0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 1.0 g/kg DM) for 24 h to assess their effect on ruminal fermentation, feed degradability, and gas and methane production using a semi-automatic system of in vitro gas production (GP). The most effective doses obtained from the in vitro experiment were evaluated in vivo using 30 Barki goats (26 ± 0.9 SE kg body weight). Goats were allocated into three dietary treatments (n = 10/treatment) as follows: control (basal diet without any supplementations), natural zeolite (20 g/kg DM diet), and nano-zeolite (0.40 g/kg DM diet). The in vitro results revealed that only the nano-zeolite supplementation form quadratically (p= 0.004) increased GP, and the level of 0.5 g/kg DM had the highest GP value compared to the control. Both zeolite forms affected the CH4 production, linear, and quadratic reductions (p < 0.05) in CH4 (mL/g DM), consistent with linear increases in truly degraded organic matter (TDOM) (p = 0.09), and propionate molar proportions (p = 0.007) were observed by nano zeolite treatment, while the natural form of zeolite resulted in a linear CH4 reduction consistent with a linear decrease (p = 0.004) in NH3-N, linear increases in TDOM (p = 0.09), and propionate molar proportions (p = 0.004). Results of the in vivo experiment demonstrated that the nutrient digestibility was similar among all treatments. Nano zeolite enhanced (p < 0.05) the total short-chain fatty acids and butyrate concentrations, while both zeolite forms decreased (p < 0.001) NH3-N compared to the control. These results suggested that both zeolite supplementation forms favorably modified the rumen fermentation in different patterns.