A non-ionic surfactant, Tween 80 has been known to exert a number of positive effects on degradative enzymes in in vitro aerobic and anaerobic microbial cultures. An experiment was conducted to examine effects of supplementation of Tween 80 on ruminal fermentation and nutrient digestibility of Hanwoo steers. The experiment was designed as a 3×3 Latin square with duplication and six Hanwoo steers with rumen cannulae, average weight 497 (SE 61.1) kg. For the experiment the animals were given a basal diet consisting of rice straw and compound feed mixed at 4:6 ratio. The three experimental treatments were (1) the basal diet, supplemented with (2) 5 g/d Tween 80 and (3) 10 g/d Tween 80. Ruminal pH was significantly (p<0.05) affected by Tween 80 supplementation at 6 h after feeding. Increasing supplementation levels of Tween 80 linearly increased the total VFA concentration. CMCase activity by the 10 g/d supplementation of Tween 80 were significantly increased (p<0.05) by 24.4% compared with that of control. Digestibility of crude fiber was significantly increased (p<0.05) in Hanwoo steers fed the diet supplemented with 10 g/d Tween 80 compared with those of control, whilst digestibility of ether extract (EE) was linearly increased by increasing Tween 80 supplementation level (p<0.05). In other nutrient components, their digestibilities of Hanwoo fed diets supplemented with Tween 80 tended to increase. It is concluded that Tween 80 has a potential for industrial application as a feed additive to improve ruminant production.

The surfactant Tween 80 was evaluated for its ability to influence cumulative gas production, cellulose digestion, and enzyme activities by mixed ruminal microorganisms grown on barley grain or Orchardgrass hay. The addition of Tween 80 at a level of 0.10% significantly (p<0.05) decreased the cumulative gas production rate from both barley grain or Orchardgrass hay substrates. However, 0.05% Tween 80 did not affect gas production rates compared to the control treatment. The addition of 0.05% Tween 80 to cultures growing on barley grain resulted in a significant increase in cellulase (90.01%), xylanase (90.73%) and amylase (487.25%) activities after 30 h incubation. Cultures utilizing Orchardgrass hay had a significant increase in cellulase (124.43%), xylanase (108.86%) and amylase (271.22%) activities after 72 h incubation. These increases in activities were also observed with cultures supplemented with 0.10% Tween 80 throughout all the incubation times tested. These results indicated that the addition of 0.05% Tween 80 could greatly stimulate the release of some of key enzymes without decreasing cell growth rate in contrast to trends reported with aerobic microorganism. Our data indicates potential uses of the surfactant Tween 80 as a feed additive for ruminant animals.