Impact of Ecklonia stolonifera extract on in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics, methanogenesis, and microbial populations.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of E. stolonifera extract addition on in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics, methanogenesis and microbial populations. METHODS: Cannulated Holstein cows (450 ± 30 kg) consuming timothy hay and a commercial concentrate (60:40, w/w) twice daily (09:00 and 17:00) at 2% of body weight with free access to water and mineral block were used as rumen fluid donors. In vitro fermentation experiment, with timothy hay as substrate, was conducted for up to 72 h, with E. stolonifera extract added to achieve final concentration 1, 3 and 5% on timothy hay basis. RESULTS: Administration of E. stolonifera extract to a ruminant fluid-artificial saliva mixture in vitro increased the total gas production. Unexpectedly, E. stolonifera extracts appeared to increase both methane emissions and hydrogen production, which contrasts with previous observations with brown algae extracts used under in vitro fermentation conditions. Interestingly, real-time polymerase chain reaction indicated that as compared with the untreated control the ciliate-associated methanogen and Fibrobacter succinogenes populations decreased, whereas the Ruminococcus flavefaciens population increased as a result of E. stolonifera extract supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: E. stolonifera showed no detrimental effect on rumen fermentation characteristics and microbial population. Through these results E. stolonifera has potential as a viable feed supplement to ruminants.

Effect of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate supplementation on lactation performance, blood-biochemical profile, and economic efficacy of mid-lactation Holstein cows.

OBJECTIVE: This study was done to evaluate the effect of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (SSL) supplementation in a total mixed ration (TMR) on the lactation performance, blood parameters, and economic efficacy of mid-lactation Holstein cows. METHODS: Twenty-four cows (body weight 647±11.7 kg) were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups, with six cows per group. The dietary treatments were as follows: basal diet (CON); CON+17.5 g of top dressed SSL (treatment [TRT] 0.05); CON+35 g of SSL (TRT 0.1); and CON+70 g of SSL (TRT 0.2) per 35 kg TMR. RESULTS: The highest level of SSL supplementation (TRT 0.2) significantly improved milk yield during the second period compared to the TRT 0.05 group (5 to 8 wks; 33.28 vs 31.09 kg/d), during the third period compared to both the CON and TRT 0.05 groups (p<0.05) (9 to 13 wks; 32.59 vs 30.64 and 30.01 kg/d) and during the overall experimental period compared to both the CON and TRT 0.05 groups (p<0.05) (1 to 13 wks; 33.43 vs 32.06 and 31.40 kg/d), respectively. No negative effects on hematological or biochemical parameters were observed due to SSL supplementation. Considering both the milk fat and protein content, the total milk price was set at 1,073.60 (TRT 0.05), 1,085.60 (TRT 0.1), 1,086.10 (TRT 0.2), and 1,064.20 (CON) won/L, with consequent total milk profits of -1.7%, 5.4%, and 3.5% for the TRT 0.05, TRT 0.1, and TRT 0.2 diet, respectively, compared to those in the CON diet. CONCLUSION: The milk sales revenue related to SSL supplementation of the TRT 0.1 diet was increased by up to 5.4% compared to the milk sales revenue of the CON diet. Therefore, 0.1% SSL supplementation might be effective and profitable during the mid-lactation period of cows, without producing adverse effects.

Effect of optimal sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate supplementation on growth performance and blood and carcass characteristics in Hanwoo steers during the early fattening period.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of total digestible nutrients (TDN) and sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (SSL) supplementation on growth performance and blood and carcass characteristics in Hanwoo steers during the early fattening period. METHODS: Sixty Hanwoo steers (average body weight, 333±36.4 kg) were randomly allotted to 3 treatments, with twenty steers per treatment, and ten steers per pen with a size of 80 m2. Dietary treatments were as follows: CON, basal diet; treatment (TRT) 0.5, 0.5% down-spec of TDN with 0.1% SSL; TRT 1.0, 1.0% down-spec of TDN with 0.1% SSL. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that average daily gain and feed efficiency increased with TRT 0.5 (0.85 kg and 11.68) vs CON (0.82 kg and 11.27) or TRT 1.0 (0.78 kg and 10.74), indicating that 0.1% SSL supplementation in the feed of early fattening steers may result in a saving of 0.5% TDN. No significant differences were observed amongst all treatments (p> 0.05) for blood metabolite concentration and blood corpuscle values, which were all within the normally accepted range for healthy steers. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that a TDN 0.5% down spec with 0.1% SSL supplemented feed may be effective and profitable for the early fattening period of Hanwoo steers without causing adverse effects.

Effect of Rhodophyta extracts on in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics, methanogenesis and microbial populations.

OBJECTIVE: Due to the threat of global warming, the livestock industry is increasingly interested in exploring how feed additives may reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, especially from ruminants. This study investigated the effect of Rhodophyta supplemented bovine diets on in vitro rumen fermentation and rumen microbial diversity. METHODS: Cannulated Holstein cows were used as rumen fluid donors. Rumen fluid:buffer (1:2; 15 mL) solution was incubated for up to 72 h in six treatments: a control (timothy hay only), along with substrates containing 5% extracts from five Rhodophyta species (Grateloupia lanceolata [Okamura] Kawaguchi, Hypnea japonica Tanaka, Pterocladia capillacea [Gmelin] Bornet, Chondria crassicaulis Harvey, or Gelidium amansii [Lam.] Lamouroux). RESULTS: Compared with control, Rhodophyta extracts increased cumulative gas production after 24 and 72 h (p = 0.0297 and p = 0.0047). The extracts reduced methane emission at 12 and 24 h (p<0.05). In particular, real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that at 24 h, ciliate-associated methanogens, Ruminococcus albus and Ruminococcus flavefaciens decreased at 24 h (p = 0.0002, p<0.0001, and p<0.0001), while Fibrobacter succinogenes (F. succinogenes) increased (p = 0.0004). Additionally, Rhodophyta extracts improved acetate concentration at 12 and 24 h (p = 0.0766 and p = 0.0132), as well as acetate/propionate (A/P) ratio at 6 and 12 h (p = 0.0106 and p = 0.0278). CONCLUSION: Rhodophyta extracts are a viable additive that can improve ruminant growth performance (higher total gas production, lower A/P ratio) and methane abatement (less ciliate-associated methanogens, Ruminococcus albus and Ruminococcus flavefaciens and more F. succinogenes.

Effects of Gelidium amansii extracts on in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics, methanogenesis, and microbial populations.

OBJECTIVE: Gelidium amansii (Lamouroux) is a red alga belonging to the family Gelidaceae and is commonly found in the shallow coasts of many East Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan. G. amansii has traditionally been utilized as an edible alga, and has various biological activities. The objective of this study was to determine whether dietary supplementation of G. amansii could be useful for improving ruminal fermentation. METHODS: As assessed by in vitro fermentation parameters such as pH, total gas, volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, gas profile (methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and ammonia), and microbial growth rate was compared to a basal diet with timothy hay. Cannulated Holstein cows were used as rumen fluid donors and 15 mL rumen fluid: buffer (1:2) was incubated for up to 72 h with four treatments with three replicates. The treatments were: control (timothy only), basal diet with 1% G. amansii extract, basal diet with 3% G. amansii extract, and basal diet with 5% G. amansii extract. RESULTS: Overall, the results of our study indicate that G. amansii supplementation is potentially useful for improving ruminant growth performance, via increased total gas and VFA production, but does come with some undesirable effects, such as increasing pH, ammonia concentration, and methane production. In particular, real-time polymerase chain reaction indicated that the methanogenic archaea and Fibrobacter succinogenes populations were significantly reduced, while the Ruminococcus flavefaciens populations were significantly increased at 24 h, when supplemented with G. amansii extracts as compared with controls. CONCLUSION: More research is required to elucidate what G. amansii supplementation can do to improve growth performance, and its effect on methane production in ruminants.

Apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients and amino acids in soybean meal, fish meal, spray-dried plasma protein and fermented soybean meal to weaned pigs.

This study sought to determine whether fermentation could increase apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N), energy (E) and amino acids (AA) in fermented soybean meal (FSBM) greater than that of soybean meal (SBM) in weaned pigs. Four weaned pigs (10.00 ± 0.30 kg) were surgically equipped with T-cannulas and randomly followed a 4 × 4 Latin square design of treatments (SBM, FSBM, fish meal and spray-dried plasma protein). Overall, the fermentation process was able to reduce the amount of anti-nutritional factors (ANF), including trypsin inhibitors, raffinose and stachyose, in the FSBM diet, which were significantly reduced by 39.4, 92.2, and 92.9%, respectively, as compared to the SBM diet. As a consequence of ANF reduction in FSBM, the AID of DM, N and E as well as AA was significantly greater with FSBM than SBM. Taken all together, the fermentation process improved the nutritional quality of SBM, due to ANF reduction, leading to improvement of digestibility of AA. As such, FSBM can be potentially used as a specialized feed ingredient, especially for young animal diets in an attempt to reduce diet costs.

Effect of probiotic bacteria-fermented medicinal plants (Gynura procumbens, Rehmannia glutinosa, Scutellaria baicalensis) as performance enhancers in growing pigs.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of mixed fermented medicinal plants (FMP) obtained from exudates of Gynura procumbens, Rehmannia glutinosa and Scutellaria baicalensis fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Bacillus licheniformis, respectively, on growth performance in growing pigs in order to assess the feasibility of using FMP as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters (AGP), such as tiamulin. A total of 150 growing pigs (body wieght 25.50 ± 2.50 kg) were used in a 6 weeks experiment and randomly divided into five groups with six replicates of five growing pigs each. The treatments were NC (basal diet), basal diet with 33 ppm tiamulin (PC), basal diet with FMP 0.05% (FMP 0.05), basal diet with FMP 0.1% (FMP 0.1) and basal diet with FMP 0.2% (FMP 0.2). Overall, body weight gain, feed conversion rate, the digestibility of dry matter and gross energy, noxious gas emission all improved with FMP supplementation as compared to NC. Taken together, these results suggest the feasibility of using FMP as an alternative to AGP for enhancing the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and excreta noxious gas emission of growing pigs.

Comparative efficacy of up to 50% partial fish meal replacement with fermented soybean meal or enzymatically prepared soybean meal on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and fecal microflora in weaned pigs.

This study was conducted to determine the comparative efficacy of partial fish meal (FM) replacement (up to 50%) with fermented soybean meal (FSBM; SoELAB, PepSoyGen and Soytide) or enzymatically prepared SBM (HP 300) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and fecal microflora in weaned pigs. A total of 100 weaned pigs (body weight 6.59 ± 0.29 kg) were used in experimental feeding trials, lasting for up to 6 weeks, and were randomly allotted to five groups with four block replicates of five pigs per pen serving as one block. Dietary treatments were as follows: (i) 100% FM, (ii) 50% FM + 50% SoELAB-54, (iii) 50% FM + 50% PepSoyGen, (iv) 50% FM + 50% Soytide and (v) 50% FM + 50% HP 300. Concerning growth performance, none of the treated SBM preparations demonstrated any significantly different effect compared with FM treatment. With respect to nutrient digestibility, SoELAB and HP 300 treatments demonstrated no significant difference compared with FM treatment. Lastly, none of the SBM preparations demonstrated any significant differences in animal fecal score and all of the differentially treated SBM increased fecal Lactobacillus counts, while maintaining similar Escherichia coli counts compared with FM treatment.

Effect of astaxanthin produced by Phaffia rhodozyma on growth performance, meat quality, and fecal noxious gas emission in broilers.

A prospective alternative to antibiotics currently being evaluated is yeast and its derivative products. Phaffia rhodozyma is a species of yeast that produces the carotenoid pigment, astaxanthin (AST), which exhibits a wide variety of biological activities, including antioxidation in animals. A total of 432 one-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acres) were used in a 4-wk feeding experiment and each dietary treatment consisted of 9 replicate cages, with 16 broilers per replicate. Birds were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 corn-soybean meal-based diets supplemented with 0 mg (CON, basal diet), 1,000 mg (CON + AST production 0.1%), or 2,000 mg (CON + AST production 0.2%) of P. rhodozyma yeast per kg of feed, giving an intake of approximately 0, 2.3, and 4.6 mg of AST/kg of feed, respectively. The inclusion of AST linearly improved weight gain in the finisher period (linear, P = 0.0264) and during the overall experimental period (linear, P = 0.0194) and linearly decreased feed conversion ratio in the finisher period (linear, P = 0.0422) and tended to decrease during the overall experimental period (linear, P = 0.0568). No significant effects were observed with red blood cell, white blood cell, and lymphocyte numbers in response to 2.3 or 4.6 mg of AST/kg of feed (P > 0.05). The ammonia emission from samples treated with 2.3 and 4.6 mg of AST/kg was significantly lower than that of CON (linear, P = 0.0110). Taken together, these results indicate that supplementation with AST could improve BW gain and decrease feed conversion ratio and fecal noxious gas emission of ammonia in broilers.

Relationship between adipose maturity and fatty acid composition in various adipose tissues of Japanese Black, Holstein and Crossbred (F1) steers.

The amount of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) is intimately related to adipose softness, melting point (MP) and flavor in beef. Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) is a main gene involved in MUFA synthesis. Mature adipose tends to be highly saturated, whereas immature or maturing adipose is highly unsaturated when chronologically based, so the degree of non-saturation can be an index of adipose maturity. In this study, three different adipose tissues (coelomic (CL), perirenal (PR), and subcutaneous (SC)) from three beef breeds with differing slaughter ages (Japanese Black (29.5 months), Holstein (20.1 month), and F1 crossbreed (25.6 months)) were examined to: (i) determine adipose maturity level as indexed by MUFA %; and (ii) determine SCD and other lipogenic gene messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels in relation to unsaturated fatty acid content. Fatty acid composition was significantly different between adipose tissues (P < 0.05). MUFA amount was high in the following order: SC > CL > PR. This pattern corresponded to SCD mRNA expression profile showing higher expression in SC than CL and PR. However, Japanese black cattle are an exception with CL adipose containing similar UFA % as SC adipose, yet having the lowest SCD mRNA expression level among all adipose tissues tested. Therefore, SCD mRNA expression and MUFA % appear to be directly related; however, differences in SCD mRNA expression among three adipose tissues may reflect differences in the fat development characteristics affected by chronological age of the cattle breeds.

Congener-specific distribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls in animal feed.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were extracted by accelerated solvent extraction from animal feed samples and analysed by high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS). In all of the feed samples analysed, the concentrations of PCDD/Fs and PCBs were below the existing tolerance limit of 5 pg I-TEQ g(-1) and 200 ng g(-1) fat, respectively. The mean concentrations of the total PCDDs, total PCDFs and total PCBs were 1.73-11.50 pg g(-1), 0.23-11.91 pg g(-1) and 60.00-234.40 pg g(-1) feed, respectively. Investigation of the correlations among the concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs showed that samples containing increased amounts of PCDFs also contained higher concentrations of PCDDs, with an average ratio of PCDF:PCDD of about 1.23:1 (r(2)=0.72, p<0.05). The correlation between the concentrations of PCDD/Fs and PCBs was positive but not significant.