Evaluation of the Effects of Mitigation on Methane and Ammonia Production by Using Origanum vulgare L. and Rosmarinus officinalis L. Essential Oils on in Vitro Rumen Fermentation Systems

Abstract

Abstract:The effects of increasing concentrations of oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) essentials oil (EO) on ruminal gas emissions were tested in vitro using 50 mL serum bottles. Each bottle contained a 200 mg substrate (alfalfa hay and corn meal 1:1) and a 20 mL solution composed of a buffered medium and rumen fluid (1:2). The percentage of ruminal fermentation products was quantified by an infrared analyzer. The reduction of total gas production was 6% and 9% respectively when using the 1.5 and 2.0 g/L oregano EO measurements. The reduction of methane production was 55%, 72% and 71% respectively with regard to the 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g/L oregano EO doses, while rosemary EO (2.0 g/L) reduced the methane production by 9%. The production of ammonia was significantly reduced (59%-78%) by all treatments with the exception of OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 12857 rosemary EO at the lowest dose. Dry matter and neutral detergent fiber degradability was reduced by most of the treatments (respectively 4%-9% and 8%-24%). The total volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration was markedly decreased by oregano EO and was not affected by rosemary EO. Both EOs mitigated rumen fermentations, but oregano EO gave rise to the highest reduction in methane and ammonia production. However, further research is needed to evaluate the use of these essential oils as dietary supplements by taking into account the negative effects on feed degradability.

Effect of Rumen Culture Adaptation to Origanum vulgare L. Essential Oil on Rumen Methane and Fermentation

“…The addition of OEO to cultures in the present study resulted in reductions in VFA concentration and total gas production suggesting that the fermentation and microbial activity were negatively impacted at the dose utilized in this study. These effects are consistent with the findings of others (Castillejos et al, 2006;Patra and Yu, 2012;Cobellis et al, 2015). In general, at high doses, OEO or its components decrease the fermentation and microbial activity.…”

“…Busquet et al (2006) reported reductions in VFA concentration and CH4 production with high doses of OEO (300 and 3000 mg L 1 ) but not when included at 30 mg L 1 . Cobellis et al (2015) also observed similar reductions in VFA concentration when OEO was added to rumen cultures at high doses.…”

“…Although EO or their active components were effective in reducing rumen CH4 production (Evans and Martin, 2000;Macheboeuf et al, 2008;Patra and Yu, 2012), most studies were short term where effects measured after 24-48 h of EO addition (Hariadi and Santoso, 2010;Cobellis et al, 2015;Pinski et al, 2016;Günal et al, 2017). However, rumen microbial ecosystem can acclimatize or develop resistance to feed additives causing effects to diminish overtime.…”

New Tricks for Old Guys: Recent Developments in the Chemistry, Biochemistry, Applications and Exploitation of Selected Species from the Lamiaceae Family

“…The latest estimates calculate the contribution of ruminants equal to 16–25 % to the total greenhouse gases emissions and EOs are recognized as safe a rumen modifier feed additive . Three works of Cobellis and collaborators draw a clear picture of the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary metabolites such as rumen modulators evaluating scientific production in recent years including essential oils. The authors concluded that if on one hand EOs may be promising natural substances to mitigate rumen methane production, improve rumen fermentations, and reduce environmental impact of ruminant production from the other side further research will be required to determine their active compounds/effective doses/mode of action, effect on organoleptic characteristics of animal products in order to evaluate a clear cost–benefit ratio prior to use them as additives at farm level.…”

Design, implementation and interpretation of in vitro batch culture experiments to assess enteric methane mitigation in ruminants—a review

“…Venting the gas produced requires that CH 4 concentration is measured simultaneously, given that different CH 4 concentrations can be expected depending on substrate or stage of incubation. Although the most common method to measure CH 4 concentration on gas samples collected from incubation vessels is by using gas chromatography, as for in vivo measurements, other techniques are available and have been used such as infrared methane analysis (Goel et al, 2008;Cobellis et al, 2015) and absorption of CO 2 (Fievez et al, 2005).…”