Effects of Fermented Oat Straw as a Lovastatin Carrier on in vitro Methane Production and Rumen Microbiota

Abstract

To date, there is an urgent need for implementing practical strategies to reduce CH4 emissions from ruminants. Lovastatin (Lv) is a specific inhibitor of methanogenic archaea. Due to the high cost of pure Lv, solid-state fermentation might be an economical bioprocess to produce Lv and facilitate its use in ruminant nutrition. The goal of this work was to assess the effects of supplementing fermented oat straw as a lovastatin carrier (FOS) to a high-grain ration on in vitro CH4 inhibition and rumen microbiota in beef cattle. The experimental design of in vitro rumen fermentation was completely randomized with four concentrations of Lv in the diet mixture. The supplementation with FOS to give Lv concentration of 100 and 150 mg L−1 in the ruminal fermentation medium significantly inhibited methanogenesis at similar levels. This suggested that less than 20% of FOS was required in the ration to achieve up to 38% of CH4 mitigation without affecting the chemical composition and nutritional value of the ration. Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production and profile showed that only the treatments with Lv at 100 and 150 mg L−1 decreased the concentration of total SCFAs; the molar ratio of propionate significantly increased with respect to that of the control. Treatment with Lv at 150 mg L−1 did not result in significant differences in the alpha and beta diversity indices compared to the control. However, significant changes in the relative abundance of some microorganisms were detected, such as an increase in Ruminococcus and a decrease in Prevotella. The predominant 99%+ MA in all controls, treatment, and inocula samples belonged to the Methanobrevibacter genus and very small (negligible) unclassified Methanobacterium genus (Euryarchaeota phylum). Interestingly, the reduction of relative abundance of MA was 39.17%, very close to the percent reduction of CH4 production, 38%. Our data showed that there was a parallel and similar percent decrease of both CH4 production and relative abundance of the predominant MA in our experiment, although the statistical significance was not complete. Finally, our results hold promise for significantly decreasing ruminal CH4 by 38%. Thus, our work is one step toward the sustainable management of the livestock sector.

Inhibición in vitro de la metanogénesis ruminal de una dieta alta en grano con lovastatina

“…El volumen de gas se calculó con la ley de los gases ideales (Castellan 1987) a partir de los datos de presión y temperatura de las muestras. Los volúmenes de gas total y metano se normalizaron (SmL) a presión y temperatura de 101.32 kPa y 298 K, respectivamente (Ábrego-García et al 2021a).…”

“…Se han evaluado alternativas económicas para producir LOV; al respecto, la fermentación en estado sólido (FES) con hongos filamentosos es uno de los bioprocesos más promisorios. Una ventaja de este proceso aplicado a la nutrición animal radica en los sustratos (esquilmos agrícolas) de la FES, los cuales una vez fermentados pueden utilizarse como portadores de LOV y posteriormente incorporarse a las raciones para rumiantes como suplementos antimetanogénicos (Jahromi et al 2013, Morgavi et al 2013, Ábrego-García et al 2021a). El enfoque de los residuos agrícolas postfermentados como portadores de LOV puede reducir considerablemente los costos de insumos externos en los sistemas de producción pecuaria, especialmente los asociados a la LOV de grado industrial.…”

Bioprocessing of Two Crop Residues for Animal Feeding into a High-Yield Lovastatin Feed Supplement

“…The latter is a significant drug in treating hypercholesterolemia [ 3 ]. Another essential feature of the Lv is that it can mitigate rumen methane emissions [ 4 ]. Specifically, Lv disrupts the cell membrane synthesis of methanogenic archaea and inhibits the growth of methanogens [ 5 , 6 ].…”

“…This score confirms that the scope of previous research is limited, and there is room for improving the research on Lv production by SSF of agricultural residues, mainly when these are destined for animal production. For instance, the characterization of organic compounds from post-fermented substrates is essential because some metabolites can benefit livestock [ 4 ]. However, others such as mycotoxins might cause important health and performance problems [ 22 , 23 ].…”

“…However, others such as mycotoxins might cause important health and performance problems [ 22 , 23 ]. Overall, most studies on the fermented substrates as actual or potential dietary supplements to mitigate rumen methane emissions have focused on the final yield of Lv [ 4 , 12 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”