Inclusion of Red Osier Dogwood in High-Forage and High-Grain Diets Affected in Vitro Rumen Fermentation

Abstract

Red osier dogwood (ROD) is an abundant shrub plant in Canada and other places in the world. It is rich in antioxidants such as quercetin, gallic acid and tyrosol. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of substituting barley silage with ROD in high-forage (HF) or high-grain (HG) diets on gas production (GP), dry matter (DM) disappearance (DMD) and fermentation characteristics in ruminal batch cultures. The study was a randomized design with 2 media pH (5.8 vs. 6.5) × 4 doses of ROD. An additional treatment of monensin and tylosin was added as a positive control for each pH level. The basic diet consisted of 60% barley silage and 40% barley grain for HF or 15% silage and 85% grain for HG diet. The barley silage was partly replaced with ROD at 0, 3, 6 or 12% in both diets (DM basis). Each diet was incubated for 24 h in culture bottles with three replicates for each treatment combination, and three runs on different days. The GP and DMD were greater (P<0.01) with media pH 6.5 vs. pH 5.8. The DMD linearly (P<0.01) decreased at pH 5.8 with increasing levels of ROD. Increasing ROD levels also linearly (P<0.01) decreased total VFA Unauthenticated Download Date | 5/9/18 12:35 PM 3 concentration and the proportion of propionate, and increased (P<0.01) the acetate to propionate ratio (A:P) at pH 5.8. Compared to the antibiotic treatment, the inclusion of ROD resulted in lower (P<0.02) DMD at pH 5.8, and a greater (P<0.01) proportion of acetate but a lower (P<0.01) proportion of propionate. These results indicated that the DMD of diets and the fermentation pattern were adversely affected by ROD at pH 5.8. However, the increased A:P along with the decreased DMD at pH 5.8, suggested a lower impact on fibre digestion than on starch digestion by ROD. Feeding ROD may therefore potentially reduce the incidence of rumen acidosis resulting from feeding HG diets to ruminants by decreasing starch digestion in the rumen.

Effect of Dried Distillers Grains With Solubles and Red Osier Dogwood Extract on Fermentation Pattern and Microbial Profiles of a High-Grain Diet in an Artificial Rumen System

“…It is well-established that supplementing feed additives can alter individual VFA profiles and fermentation patterns (5,9). For example, it is well-known that feeding monensin to ruminants increases propionate production and decreases the A:P ratio, thus improving energy efficiency (5). The trend of increased acetate concentration and the A:P ratio due to the addition of the ROD extract to the basal diet in the present study is in agreement with the previous batch culture study (5).…”

“…It is well-established that supplementing feed additives can alter individual VFA profiles and fermentation patterns (5,9). For example, it is well-known that feeding monensin to ruminants increases propionate production and decreases the A:P ratio, thus improving energy efficiency (5).…”

“…In recent years, ROD and its potential as a feed ingredient for livestock have been evaluated in in vitro and in vivo studies utilizing beef cattle and swine. Wei et al (5) investigated the effect of substituting ROD for silage at 3% and 6-12% in a high-grain diet on in vitro rumen fermentation with varying media pH (5.8 vs. 6.5). They suggested that the inclusion of ROD at a media pH of 5.8 had greater effects on starch digestion than on fiber digestion.…”

Effect of Manitoba-Grown Red-Osier Dogwood Extracts on Recovering Caco-2 Cells from H2O2-Induced Oxidative Damage

“…In Canada, it is a precious plant resource and rich in phenolic components, including anthocyanins with strong antioxidative activity [18]. At present, ground red-osier dogwood has been investigated in animal feeds to improve growth performance, feed intake, disease prevention, and meat quality [19,20]. Researchers [19,20] investigated the effects of ground red-osier dogwood supplementation on the digestibility, blood metabolites, and acute phase response in beef heifers.…”

“…At present, ground red-osier dogwood has been investigated in animal feeds to improve growth performance, feed intake, disease prevention, and meat quality [19,20]. Researchers [19,20] investigated the effects of ground red-osier dogwood supplementation on the digestibility, blood metabolites, and acute phase response in beef heifers. The results showed that ground red-osier dogwood could increase the feed digestibility and plasma concentration of haptoglobin and serum amyloid A in a ground red-osier dogwood dose-dependence.…”