Ruminal pH sensing for monitoring volatile fatty acid concentrations in response to short-term dietary disruption

Abstract

Graphical Abstract Summary The synthesis of volatile fatty acids (VFA), a primary product of microbial fermentation that provides a crucial source of energy for the animal, is driven primarily by diet characteristics. Exploration of commercially available sensors to estimate ruminal VFA concentrations across diets could drastically change how ration-formulation decisions are made. This study investigated the opportunity to leverage ruminal pH to track VFA concentrations in the rumen in response to short-term dietary disruption. Although significant, pH measurements have poor accuracy in predicting VFA, and prediction errors pattern with dietary forage to concentrate ratio.