Effect of changing forage on the dynamic variation in rumen fermentation in sheep

Abstract

To better understand rumen adaptation during dietary transitions between high- and low-quality forages, 10 rumen-cannulated Hu sheep were randomly allocated to two dietary treatments (five sheep each) with the same concentrate-to-forage ratio and concentration mixture, but different forage sequences: (i) alfalfa hay (AH) to corn stover (CS) and back to AH; and (ii) CS to AH and back to CS. A significant decrease in the rumen microbial protein concentration was observed on day 6 after dietary transition whether the transition was from AH to CS or from CS to AH, and this was accompanied by an increase in the ammonia nitrogen concentration as well as a decrease in the total volatile fatty acids concentration and pH. However, after transitioning back to the original forage, the rumen fermentation parameters returned to their initial levels within 2 weeks. Our findings suggest that abrupt substitutions of forages with large nutrient differences could influence rumen function to some extent, but recovery can occur within 2 weeks without detrimental effects. Furthermore, we speculate that the variation of fermentation in the first 6 days may indicate an important rumen transition stage that requires further study.

Persistence of Cellulolytic Bacteria Fibrobacter and Treponema After Short-Term Corn Stover-Based Dietary Intervention Reveals the Potential to Improve Rumen Fibrolytic Function

“…Comparison of the original AH (day 0) and post-intervention AH (day 28) communities indicated that Fibrobacter and Treponema were the only genera that increased when forage was transitioned to CS but showed persistence to the transition back to AH. The apparent digestibility of NDF and ADF, total VFA concentration and acetate molar proportion were slightly increased, though the difference was not statistically significant ( Xie et al, 2018 ). However, the absolute concentration of acetate at day 28 were significantly higher than that at day 0 ( P < 0.05).…”

“…Ten ruminally cannulated Hu Sheep (body weight = 15.1 ± 0.5 kg) were used in a crossover repeated measure design. A detailed description of this experimental design and treatments has been described previously ( Xie et al, 2018 ). Briefly, diets were formulated according to their primary forage sources: AH or CS with forage to concentrate ratio of 6:4 (Supplementary Table S1 ).…”

“…The microbial communities were related with previous measured rumen fermentation parameters described previously Xie et al (2018) with redundancy analysis using vegan package ( Oksanen et al, 2016 ). The top 15 significant different genera were used as community matrix, and rumen fermentation variables were introduced as environmental constraint variables.…”

The Effect of Transitioning between Feeding Methods on the Gut Microbiota Dynamics of Yaks on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

“…Some studies on the adaptation period of ruminants have been reported, but the researchers only paid attention to the ruminant digestion, fermentation, and rumen microbiota, and were less focused on the dynamics of intestinal microbiota [ 5 , 8 , 9 ]. However, the intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in animal health and food safety, as they regulate the host’s metabolism through various functions, and the diversity in the microbial community structure is affected by changes in diet [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Effects of the Forage Type and Chop Length of Ramie Silage on the Composition of Ruminal Microbiota in Black Goats

“…The pH of rumen fluid is the most basic index reflecting the rumen fermentation status of ruminants, which is indicated by the formation and absorption of organic acids (such as VFAs) in the rumen, the amount of saliva, and the amount of rumen contents from the rumen to the hindgut [12]. A previous study showed that corn stover decreased the ruminal pH to a greater extent than alfalfa hay in Hu sheep [13]. The dynamic variation in rumen pH was also observed in the present study.…”