Strategic Supplementation of Flemingia Silage to Enhance Rumen Fermentation Efficiency, Microbial Protein Synthesis and Methane Mitigation in Beef Cattle

Abstract

Background: Good quality protein as an on-farm feed resources has been in great demand to support the productivity of ruminants. A digestion trial using beef cattle crossbreds was conducted to assess the four dietary treatments of Flemingia macrophylla silage (FMS) supplementation at 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 kg dry matter (DM)/day in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Feed DM intakes were measured during the 14 days and sample of feeds, feces, urine, as well as rumen fluid, blood were collected during the 7 days while the animals were on metabolism crates.Results: Based on this experiment revealed that strategic supplementation of FMS increased (P < 0.05) nutrients digestibility (organic matter, crude protein, and acid detergent fiber) enhanced rumen total volatile fatty acid production especially propionic acid (C3), C2:C3 ratio while, remarkably promoted the microbial protein synthesis (MPS) by increasing N-balance and retention of purine derivatives.Conclusion: Under this experiment, the results revealed the potential use of FMS as a good-quality feed to improve nutrients digestibility, rumen fermentation, microbial protein synthesis, and to mitigate methane production. FMS supplementation at 0.6 kg DM/day exhibited the best result.