Short term in vitro incubations were used to evaluate the effect of fumaric acid -bentonite coupled addition on rumen fermentation effeciency. Ruminal contents from five steers were used for preparation of inoculums of mixed rumen microorganisms that were used in generatation of three treatment systems, negative control, fumaric acid treated, and fumaric acid -bentonite coupled treated. The fermentation pattern revealed that, this coupled addition was associated with an additional increase in propionic acid production and fermentation efficiency and was related to an additional decrease in methanogenesis and VFAs utilization index. Furthermore, it increased total VFAs concentrations and decreased pH value, ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N) concentrations and butyrate proportions. Meanwhile, it did not alter the proportions of long chain VFAs or cellulase activity. Conclusively, this coupled addition would improve the impact of fumaric acid on rumen fermentation pattern and can be appropriate alternative for antibiotic feed additives in improving ruminants feed efficiency.

In vitro gas production technique was used to evaluate the effect of three different levels of eugenol + fumaric acid combinations on rumen fermentation. Rumen contents were collected from five rams immediately after slaughtering and used for preparation of inoculums of mixed rumen microbes that were used in generation of five mass generated and VFAs utilization. In conclusion, the authors recommend using 200 mg L eugenol + fumaric acid combination as an alternative for antibiotic feed additives to optimize rumen fermentation pattern. Further investigations are required to apply this work in vivo experiments.

Three trials have been carried out to prepare oat and barley milks with acceptable organoleptic properties and are free of unhealthy and harmful substances. These trails were (A) boiling of intact oat and barley grains after soaking but before disruption, (B) wet toasting of soaked grains before disruption, (C) disruption of soaked grains without heating. Effect of processing conditions (soaking, soaking + heating and soaking + toasting) and the ratio of grains to extracting medium on phytic acid content, % milk and % recovery of solids and protein in the resultant milk was studied. Some chemical and physical properties of the resultant milks were compared with that of cow milk (control). The results showed that process B has low yield of oat milk but higher recoveries of solids and protein in comparison with processes A and C whereas; process A was preferable to produce barley milk. Using sweet whey as an extracting medium instead of tap water caused an increase in total solids and protein contents and improved of organoleptic properties of resultant milks. About 13% on average of phytic acid was lost during the soaking of oat and barley grains. This reduction was increased to 16.56% after toasting of soaked oat grains while reached 21.73% after heating of soaked barley grains. Chemical analysis of oat, barley and cow milks showed that cow milk had higher fat and Ca contents than both oat and barley milks while, oat and barley milks contain more carbohydrates, phosphorus, potassium, iron and Zinc than dose cow milk. Cow milk and oat milk contain nearly identical amounts of protein and fiber is a big plus, dairy has none. With respect to the amino acid composition, isoleucine, methionine, threonine and tyrosin occurred at slightly lower levels in proteins of oat and barley milks than those of the FAO/WHO reference protein. Cow milk protein had slightly higher essential amino acids content than those in proteins of oat and barley milks. Both oat milk and barley milk exhibited higher viscosity and lower heat stability than those of cow milk whereas, titrable acidity and specific gravity values of these milks were approached those of cow milk.. Consequently, oat milk or barley milk can be a healthy choice for many peoples especially who are allergic to milk protein.

With the objective of improving the impact of multi-enzymes feed additives on cecal fermentation pattern and rabbit metabolism, sodium bentonite was co-supplemented with "Kemzyme", a multi-enzyme blend of Kemin Agrifoods Europe. Co-supplementation decreased cecal pH value, increased total VFAs concentration, increased propionate at the expence of acetate and butyrate, increased fermentation efficieny and VFAs utilization. Additionally, co-supplementation increased serum glucose concentration and decreased serum triglycerides and cholesterol concentrations. Cecal ammonia nitrogen and serum urea concentration were also decreased by co-supplementation while no change was recorded in serum total proteins concentration. The study therefore, suggested that, coupling bentonite to multi-enzyme feed additives could improve the impact of such enzymes on cecal fermentation pattern and rabbit metablism.

Seventy six New Zealand white rabbits of about 700 ± 80 gm live weight were used to evaluate the influence of diet supplemented with urea-bentonite combination on cecal characteristics, metabolism and rabbit growth performance. The rabbits were assigned into four dietary treatments control, bentonite-supplemented (with 2.5% sodium bentonite), urea-supplemented (with 1% urea) and urea -bentonite co-supplemented (1% urea+ 2.5% sodium bentonite). Co-supplementation decreased cecal pH value and ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N) concentration, increased total volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration, increased butyrate at the expence of acetate and propionate, increased fermentation efficieny and bacterial mass. Additionally, co-supplementation increased serum total proteins and glucose concentrations while no change was recorded in serum urea and creatinine concentrations. Serum levels of AST were decreased in all experimental groups in comparison with control group whereas, serum levels of ALT were increased only by addition of urea alone. Moreover, urea-bentonite combination achieved an improvement in live weight gain and feed conversion effeciency by about 32% and 33% respectively with reference to control and thus considered cost effective. The study indicates that, a low cost urea-bentonite combination can replace about 50% of protein content of the high cost conventional rabbit feed and additionally improve rabbit growth performance that would be a valuable feeding strategy in developing countries.