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Lignin and Fiber Digestion
Abstract
Lignin is a polymer formed from monolignols derived from the phenylpropanoid pathway in vascular plants. It is deposited in the cell walls of plants as part of the process of cell maturation. Lignin is considered an anti-quality component in forages because of its negative impact on the nutritional availability of plant fiber. Lignin interferes with the digestion of cell-wall polysaccharides by acting as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes. Lignification therefore has a direct and often important impact on the digestible energy (DE) value of the forage. There are a number of plant-related factors that affect lignification in individual plants and plant communities. Lignification is under genetic control and there are considerable differences in lignin concentration and composition among species and even genotypes within species. Genetic differences in lignification are first expressed at the cellular level and are affected by biochemical and physiological activities of the cell. As cells differentiate, differences in lignification occur depending on the tissues and organs being developed. Lignification tends to be most intense in structural tissues such as xylem and sclerenchyma. Plant organs containing high concentrations of these tissues, such as stems, are less digestible than those containing lower concentrations. The relative proportion of lignified tissues and organs typically increases as plants mature so there is often a negative relationship between digestibility and maturity. All of these plant processes respond to environmental factors that can affect the extent and impact of lignification. Temperature, soil moisture, light, and soil fertility can have either direct or indirect effects on lignification. The most useful management practices for minimizing the negative effects of lignification are manipulation of the plant community such that it contains more desirable species and harvest management to maintain plants in a vegetative stage of development. /// La lignina es un polímero formado de monolignoles derivados de la vía fenilpropanoide de las plantas vasculares. Se deposita en las paredes celulares de las plantas como parte del proceso de maduración de la célula. En los forrajes, la lignina se considera como un componente anti-calidad por su impacto negativo en la disponibilidad nutricional de la fibra de la planta. La lignina interfiere con la digestión de los polisacáridos de la pared celular al actuar como barrera física para las enzimas microbianas. Por lo tanto, la lignificación tiene un impacto directo, y a menudo importante, en el valor de la energía digestible (ED) del forraje. Hay un número de factores relacionados con la planta que afectan la lignificación de las plantas individuales y de las comunidades vegetales. La lignificación esta bajo control genético y hay considerables diferencias entre especies, y aun entre genotipos de la misma especie, respecto a la concentración y composición de la lignina. Las diferencias genéticas de lignificación se expresan primeramente a nivel celular y son afectadas por las actividades bioquímicas y fisiológicas de la célula. Conforme la célula se diferencia ocurren diferencias en la lignificación, dependiendo de los tejidos y orgános que se estén desarrollando. La lignificación tiende a ser mas intensa en tejidos estructurales como el xilema y esclerénquima. Los órganos de la planta que contienen altas proporciones de estos tejidos, tales como los tallos, son menos digestibles que aquellos que contienen bajas concentraciones. La proporción de tejidos y órganos lignificados típicamente aumenta conforme la planta madura, por lo que a menudo hay una relación negativa entre la digestibilidad y madurez. Todos estos procesos de la planta responden a factores ambientales que pueden afectar la cantidad e impacto de la lignificación. La temperatura, humedad del suelo, luz y fertilidad del suelo pueden tener también efectos directos o indirectos en la lignificación. Las practicas de manejo mas útiles para minimizar los efectos negativos de la lignificación son la manipulación de las comunidades vegetales para que contengan mas especies deseables y el manejo de la cosecha para mantener las plantas en estado vegetativo.
... A inclinação mais acentuada da curva de gramíneas levou vários autores a hipotetizarem que a lignina de gramíneas seria mais inibitória à digestão do que a lignina de leguminosas, uma vez que, gramíneas com menores teores de lignina do que leguminosas, apresentaram aproximadamente a mesma inibição (Mowat et al., 1969;Van Soest, 1964;Jung & Deetz, 1993). Entretanto, esta conclusão foi obtida com o método LDA e esta deve ser considerada suspeita porque a LDA subestima a concentração de lignina, mais severamente em gramíneas do que em leguminosas (Moore & Jung, 2001). Em outras palavras, a aparente inibição da lignina na digestão da parede celular, maior para gramíneas do que para leguminosas, pode ser explicada simplesmente pela subestimação da concentração de lignina de gramíneas pelo método LDA (Lowry et al., 1994). ...
... Esta observação foi em marcado contraste com alfafa, onde o xilema dos caules contendo paredes celulares grossas e altamente lignificadas foi virtualmente não degradável, o que sugere que a lignina de leguminosas possa ser até mais inibitória à digestão do que em gramíneas (Jung & Engels, 2002). Há sugestões de que ligações covalentes cruzadas entre ferulatos e a parede cellular de gramíneas tenham papel na digestão (Moore & Jung, 2001); essas ligações são observadas em gramíneas, mas não em leguminosas (Ralph, 2010). Neste caso, esta teoria teria maior afinidade com a Figura 1, mas não com a Figura 2. Estes resultados conferem maior consistência à hipótese de que o impacto da lignina sobre a degradabilidade da parede celular de forrageiras é primariamente relacionada com a concentração da mesma. ...
... Como já anteriormente mencionado, algumas pesquisas indicaram que o método LDA subestima a concentração de lignina devido à perda de uma fração durante o preparo da FDA, sendo essa perda maior em gramíneas em comparação com as leguminosas (Shimojo & Goto, 1984;Kondo et al., 1987;Moore & Jung, 2001). Em função dessas constatações, Fukushima et al. (2015c); Fukushima (2017) multiplicaram por 2,4 os dados de gramíneas da Fig. 1. ...
... Dietary CP stimulates the proliferation of microbes over the entire gastro-intestinal tract (GIT), increasing DMI and nutrient digestibility (Kaewtapee et al., 2017). The dietary aNDFom (241-244 g/ kg DM) in the 0 to 100 g/kg DM A. mearnsii leaf-meal diets was within the range of 200-245 required for optimal DMI and maintenance of desirable rumen pH for optimal digestion of fibre by cellulolytic bacteria (Moore & Jung, 2001;NRC, 2007). Additionally, increased DMI was observed in diets containing total phenols in the range of 21.9-27.7 g/kg DM, similar to that reported in literature (12.3-34.9 ...
... The decline in DMI beyond 100 g/kg DM of Acacia leaf-meal may be attributed to the higher NDF, lignin and total phenols. Diets that contain higher NDF and lignin content may display low rumen digestibility, increase rumen spend time, and slowly pass through the rumen, and hence limit DMI by rumen fill (Moore & Jung, 2001). This might be due to NDF serving as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes preventing them from degrading polysaccharides (Moore & Jung, 2001) while lignin may form a protective layer over NDF, limiting cell wall degradation by microorganisms in the rumen (Abarghuei, Rouzbehan, & Alipour, 2010), thus reducing digestibility of feed DM and NDF contents. ...
... Diets that contain higher NDF and lignin content may display low rumen digestibility, increase rumen spend time, and slowly pass through the rumen, and hence limit DMI by rumen fill (Moore & Jung, 2001). This might be due to NDF serving as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes preventing them from degrading polysaccharides (Moore & Jung, 2001) while lignin may form a protective layer over NDF, limiting cell wall degradation by microorganisms in the rumen (Abarghuei, Rouzbehan, & Alipour, 2010), thus reducing digestibility of feed DM and NDF contents. Also, presence of phenols might have formed complexes with proteins and carbohydrates, and to a lesser extent fat and resulted in lower nutrient digestibility thus increasing rumen fill and reducing rate of passage (Mueller-Harvey et al., 2019;Naumann, Tedeschi, Zeller, & Huntley, 2017). ...
The study evaluated the effects of substituting increasing levels of Acacia mearnsii leaf-meal (AMLM) for Triticum aestivum bran in lamb finishing diets on growth, carcass, and meat quality attributes. Forty, 3-months-old lambs with an average live weight of 25.7 ± 1.60 kg were allocated to one of the five dietary inclusion levels of AMLM (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 g/kg DM; n = 8) in a completely randomised design for 42 days. Dry matter intake, average daily gain, feed efficiency, carcass weights, dressing percentage and income over feed costs exhibited quadratic (P ≤ 0.05) responses to the addition of AMLM peaking at 100 g/kg DM inclusion level. Meat ultimate pH, moisture and lightness increased linearly (P ≤ 0.05) while intramuscular fat and shear force declined linearly (P ≤ 0.05) with increasing levels of AMLM. In conclusion, AMLM can replace up to 100 g/kg DM of T. aestivum bran in lamb finisher diets without impairing meat production and quality.
... At the behavioural level, one foraging strategy is to regularly revisit the 54 same seagrass patches, which allows herbivores to cultivate plots of young leaves (Bjorndal, 55 1980). Since regrowths generally have higher protein levels and lower lignin levels (Bjorndal,56 1980; Moran and Bjorndal, 2007), and digestibility of forages is negatively correlated with 57 lignin concentration (Moore and Jung, 2001), this strategy improves nutritional content and 58 digestibility of the targeted plants. In addition, bite sizes that favour a high surface-to-volume 59 ratio of ingesta particles, and thus greater exposure to microbial attack, are likely to maximise 60 digestion rates (Bjorndal et al., 1990;Gulick et al., 2021). ...
... According to Moran and Bjorndal (2007), the variability in lignin content 476 may be due to the current flow characteristics of each study site. Yet, while lignin has a higher energy density than cellulose and hemicellulose (between 21 and 27 kJ/g DW, compared to 17 478 kJ/g DW for cellulose and hemicellulose, see Agrawal et al., 2014;Frei, 2013;Murphy and 479 Masters, 1978;Welker et al., 2015), the low digestibility that lignin confers on food (due to its 480 own low digestibility and because it prevents digestive enzymes from breaking down 481 cellulose and hemicellulose completely by complexing with these fibres) precludes it from 482 being an efficient nutrient (Moore and Jung, 2001;Van Soest, 1982). Therefore, although H. 483 stipulacea showed lower energy content than the native species through nutritional analysis 484 ( Fig. 3), its low lignin content and higher digestibility calls into question the measured 485 energetic advantage of native plants over the exotic one. ...
... Interestingly, we found that H. stipulacea was more digestible and had up to 6 times less 467 lignin content than the native species (Fig. 3, Table S5 , 2015), the low digestibility that lignin confers on food (due to its 480 own low digestibility and because it prevents digestive enzymes from breaking down 481 cellulose and hemicellulose completely by complexing with these fibres) precludes it from 482 being an efficient nutrient (Moore and Jung, 2001;Van Soest, 1982). Therefore, although H. 483 stipulacea showed lower energy content than the native species through nutritional analysis 484 (Fig. 3), its low lignin content and higher digestibility calls into question the measured 485 energetic advantage of native plants over the exotic one. ...
Marine herbivores face rapid changes in the coastal ecosystems where they forage. In the Caribbean, the recent and fast expansion of the invasive phanerogam species Halophila stipulacea is threatening native seagrass ecosystems. So far, H. stipulacea is escaping most Caribbean herbivores, certainly because of its recent introduction or lower nutritional value. We investigated the impact of H. stipulacea invasion on fine-scale foraging habitat selection and food resource selection of immature green turtles at critical foraging sites in Les Anses d’Arlet, Martinique. The analysis of seagrass distribution and nutritional content, together with turtle behaviour and resource selection, showed that H. stipulacea may be of contrasting interest to green turtles. Compositional analysis confirmed the lower nutritional value of H. stipulacea compared to the native species, but the invasive species showed higher digestibility than native ones, which calls into question the energetic advantage of consuming the native plants over the exotic plant. Thus, although green turtles mostly selected the native seagrass Thalassia testudinum in multispecies seagrass beds, some individuals fed on H. stipulacea. Accordingly, in bays entirely invaded by H. stipulacea, one possibility for resident green turtles is to increase foraging on this species, but, if so, the consequences on their growth and survival still remain to be determined. As the expansion of H. stipulacea may have been facilitated by factors such as shipping, anchor scarring and fishing activities, protection of native seagrass beds and immature green turtles from human disturbances is urgently required to ensure the long-term adaptation of green turtles to this new foraging environment.
... The lignification process is one of the most important phenomena that affect the potential digestibility of forage tissues (Moore and Jung, 2001). Lignin is a structural component of plant cell walls deposited during the maturation process after the secondary wall thickening begins. ...
... Lignin is a structural component of plant cell walls deposited during the maturation process after the secondary wall thickening begins. Lignification occurs first in the primary wall and then progresses into the secondary wall (Moore and Jung, 2001). Phloem and mesophyll cells from grasses and legumes never develop secondary walls. ...
... Phloem and mesophyll cells from grasses and legumes never develop secondary walls. Therefore, both tissues are entirely digestible, while lignified tissues are never completely digested, even after a long exposure time in rumen solution (Moore and Jung, 2001). Lignin acts as a physical barrier preventing the microbial enzymes from reaching the cell wall carbohydrates, which decrease the ability of cattle to obtain energy from plant material (Wilson et al., 1991). ...
Temperature and soil moisture strongly affect the nutritional value and digestibility of forage plants through changes in leaf chemical composition or the proportion of leaf blade tissues. In this study, we aimed to evaluate leaf blade anatomical modifications of two tropical forage species, Stylosanthes capitata (C3) and Megathyrsus maximus (C4) under warmed conditions (+2 °C) at well-watered and rainfed conditions and investigate the interactions between leaf anatomical alterations, leaf chemical composition, and leaf digestibility. Experiments were conducted under field conditions using a Temperature-free air-controlled enhancement (T-FACE) system. We observed that plants under elevated temperature produced leaves with smaller stomata and thinner mesophyll tissue and reduced total leaf thickness, potentially impacting gas exchange. On the other hand, reduced soil moisture increased stomatal density and thickness of the adaxial epidermis. In both species, leaf fibrous fractions concentration increased under warmed and non-irrigated conditions, while crude protein concentration and digestibility decreased. However, leaf digestibility was associated with leaf chemical composition rather than the proportion of different leaf blade tissues. We concluded that although both species developed leaf anatomical modifications to acclimate under future warming conditions, leaf nutritional value and digestibility will be reduced, potentially impacting future livestock production and methane emissions by ruminants.
... Low ADL yields reported in the literature are probably due to the solubilization and loss of lignin during the ADL procedure, especially in tropical grasses where up to 50 % is lost (Shimojo and Goto, 1984;Lowry et al., 1994;Hatfield et al., 1994;Jung et al., 1997;Moore and Jung, 2001). Jung et al. (1999) suggested that the ADL process underestimated lignin when they found that the amount of lignin recovered was less than the gross energy determined by bomb calorimetry. ...
... This is further supported by the observation that concentration of ADL in grasses is less than in legumes at equivalent degradability values (Van Soest, 1964;Tomlin et al., 1965;Kondo et al., 1987;Jung and Deetz, 1993). However, Moore and Jung (2001) questioned whether these apparent differences in lignin might be an artifact of the ADL method, which greatly underestimates lignin concentration in grasses compared to legumes, leading to greater apparent lignin resistance for cell wall degradation in grasses (Lowry et al., 1994). Cherney et al. (1988) reported lignin concentrations as low as 38 g/kg in some grasses and as high as 102 g/kg in some legume samples, supporting the theory that cell wall degradation is affected more by lignin concentration than by lignin composition (Grabber et al., 2009). ...
... The ADL method results in partial loss of elements of lignin that dissolve in the ADS (Kondo et al., 1987;Lowry et al., 1994;Moore and Jung, 2001), which likely contributes to the apparent differences observed in the degradability of lignin in grasses versus legumes. We found that all isolated lignins exhibited some degree of solubility in ADS and were lost in the filtrate (Table 5); grasses and legumes showed comparable lignin solubilities. ...
The acetyl bromide lignin (ABL) has been shown to provide a similar relationship between lignin concentration and fiber degradability for grasses and legumes. In contrast, the acid detergent lignin (ADL) method results in different regression equations for grasses and legumes with a larger slope for grasses. The difference may be due to solubilization and loss of lignin in the grasses during the acid detergent fiber (ADF) procedure. While ADL and ABL values for legumes were about the same, ADL values for grasses were about half of those for ABL, supporting the theory that lignin was lost in grasses in the ADL method. We estimated this loss at about 60%, so multiplying the ADL in grasses by 2.4 would yield the actual lignin concentrations. Applying this multiplier to ADL in grasses, but not in legumes, resulted in analogous regression lines for forage degradability, that were similar to those obtained with the ABL method. The nutritional entity ABL behaves uniformly for grasses and legumes and may properly determine measures of lignin, allowing further research on the mechanisms by which lignin acts as a barrier to enzymatic degradation of forage cell wall polysaccharides, which may provide information on the potential nutritive value of specific plants for herbivores.
... In addition, lignin also works as a physical barrier against pathogen attack [41], and may be induced upon pathogen infection [42]. Not surprisingly, its presence significantly reduces cell wall degradability by herbivores [43]. and tracheids). ...
... In addition, lignin also works as a physical barrier against pathogen attack [41], and may be induced upon pathogen infection [42]. Not surprisingly, its presence significantly reduces cell wall degradability by herbivores [43]. ...
This article summarizes evolving concepts and scientific findings on cell wall feruloylation and ferulate oxidative coupling processes in grasses, and the effects these have on the wide range of cell wall properties and consequent plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress and tissue degradability. Updates of the different strategies that have been applied to genetically modifying cell wall feruloylation are presented. Special emphasis is given to the modification of cell wall feruloylation by heterologous expression of cell wall ferulic acid esterase, as this strategy has provided insights into the impact of feruloylation on the changes in the physicochemical properties of the cell wall with consequent effects on different plant processes. Emerging feruloyl transferase candidate genes codifying enzymes accounting for ferulate incorporation into grass arabinoxylans are also highlighted.
... Although grasses generally contain less lignin relative to legumes, the composition and distribution of grass lignin accounts for more of the variation in NDF digestibility compared to legumes (Smith et al., 1972). Moore and Jung (2001) observed that at low concentrations of lignin (5% of NDF), NDF digestibility of grasses can be as high as 90% while legume NDF is approximately 70% digestible, suggesting there is an interaction between lignin concentration and species of plant. They (Moore and Jung, 2001) report that at high concentrations of lignin (15% of NDF), legume NDF averages 60% digestible while grass NDF averages 40% digestible. ...
... Moore and Jung (2001) observed that at low concentrations of lignin (5% of NDF), NDF digestibility of grasses can be as high as 90% while legume NDF is approximately 70% digestible, suggesting there is an interaction between lignin concentration and species of plant. They (Moore and Jung, 2001) report that at high concentrations of lignin (15% of NDF), legume NDF averages 60% digestible while grass NDF averages 40% digestible. Legumes naturally contain more leafy material compared to grasses and leaves, which are composed of more non-core lignin than core lignin (Jung, 1989), and are the most digestible part of the plant. ...
Fiber from forages comprises a significant proportion of dairy cattle rations and by extension, it contributes largely to the energy concentration of the diet. While the proportion of fiber in the diet is important, the composition of fiber is probably more important as the different constituents of this fraction vary in their contributions to the nutritive value of the feed. Lignin has been described as an important factor limiting the digestion of NDF, reducing intake, and compromising milk production. Although lignin’s effects on these responses have been well characterized, the literature lacks data on the use of indirect calorimetry to evaluate the dietary lignin concentration. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the energetics of lignin, and its relationship with the energy concentration of the entire NDF fraction. The first experiment used 16 NDF residues from individual feeds or mixed rations to analytically determine the GE concentration of feed NDF. This value was compared to that of fecal NDF, which was analytically determined from 34 fecal NDF residues. The GE concentration of feed NDF was found to be lower than that used in the Dairy NASEM (2021) model’s equations used to calculate dietary gross and digestible energy concentrations. If the observed NDF GE concentration is representative of the true GE concentration of NDF, this result suggests that the Dairy NASEM (2021) model is overpredicting the energetic contribution of NDF. Additionally, this study reports that feed NDF is of a greater energy concentration relative to fecal NDF. This result suggests that nutritional models likely do not capture the full scope of NDF digestibility in their predictions of energy utilization. Lignin’s impact on utilization of energy and nitrogen was examined using twelve multiparous lactating Jersey cows in a two period crossover design. Diets were formulated so to be equal in NDF concentration but differing in their NDF profiles. The LoLig diet contained 32.5% NDF (% DM) and 9.59% lignin (% NDF) while the HiLig diet contained 31.0% NDF (% DM) and 13.3% lignin (% NDF). Interestingly, increasing the concentration of lignin not only decreased the digestibility of NDF, but also CP and starch, likely due to decreased fermentability by ruminal microbes. The effects of reduced digestibility carried through to metabolizable energy concentration but not net energy concentration, likely due to an underpowered experiment or cumulative error associated with calculating net energy. Increasing the concentration of dietary lignin shifted nitrogen excretion from the urine to the feces, which is considered to be better for the environment. Feeding the HiLig diet resulted in lower yields of milk, fat, and protein, suggesting that the impacts of increasing dietary lignin concentration might impact more factors than NDF digestibility. Advisor: Paul J. Kononoff
... (1) soluble substances are rapidly leached out from the leaves, where roughly 50% of the original weight is lost in 7-8 months, providing nutrients for the growth of microorganisms in the water medium (Robertson et al., 1982;Peduzzi and Herndl, 1991), and (2) detritus compounds are broken down into particulate organic matter (POM). The second phase of the decomposition is largely dependent on the C:N ratio of the detritus, with higher ratios having a slower rate of decomposition (e.g., Lavelle et al., 1993;Moore and Jung, 2001;Fourqurean and Schrlau, 2003). Additionally, seagrass leaves have low lignin which acts as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes (Moore and Jung, 2001). ...
... The second phase of the decomposition is largely dependent on the C:N ratio of the detritus, with higher ratios having a slower rate of decomposition (e.g., Lavelle et al., 1993;Moore and Jung, 2001;Fourqurean and Schrlau, 2003). Additionally, seagrass leaves have low lignin which acts as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes (Moore and Jung, 2001). However, only about 40% of the decomposition corresponds to microbial metabolic consumption, while the rest are lost in the form of fine organic debris which can be mineralized, exported, or stored in the sediment (Mateo and Romero, 1996). ...
In the tropical ecosystem, sea cucumbers are associated with seagrass meadows in various ways, often forming a network of ecological interactions. From this myriad of interactions, the trophic relationship between the seagrasses and sea cucumbers has received recent attention with the advent of analytical techniques. However, little is understood about the exact mechanism by which seagrasses are sustaining the sea cucumber populations in the food chain, considering the high number of refractory components in seagrasses and the lack of digestive enzymes among sea cucumbers. This manuscript aims to review existing concepts in ecology concerning the association between tropical seagrasses and sea cucumbers to provide directions for research and management of this vital resource. We searched literature from electronic databases and identified key concepts concerning sea cucumber and seagrass communities based on geographic distribution, nutrient compositions, seagrass decomposition process, and trophic enrichments in the food chain. A conceptual model was then developed detailing the factors influencing the association between the seagrass meadows and sea cucumbers. Despite the limited published information on the seagrass–sea cucumber association, a synthesis of the current understanding of this topic is provided to address the declining sea cucumber populations in the tropical seagrass meadows. We suggest that the successful restoration of sea cucumber fisheries requires a thorough understanding of the seagrass decomposition process, which is vital to the diet of sea cucumbers.
... The remarkable capacity of protein production in ruminants is attributed to the pre-stomach system which houses a complex microbial ecosystem (Kamra, 2005;Liu et al. 2020;Russell and Rychlik 2001). However, in semiarid tropical regions, the quantity of available fodder and the pasture quality are compromised during dry periods when the physiological lignification of the vegetal cell wall reduces the forage digestibility (Moore, and Jung 2001). ...
... The quantity and quality of pastures are drastically reduced during dry periods, in semiarid regions. The forage digestibility is reduced by the physiological lignification process in plant cell wall (Moore and Jung 2001). Fungi produce lignocellulolytic enzymes and contribute synergistically to the decay of lignocellulosic residues in nature (Dashtban et al. 2010). ...
The bovine production on pastures is a sustainable activity, responsible to generating income and employments in many tropical regions. However, in this system a major obstacle occurs during long dry periods, when the forages show low nutritional quality. In this research we evaluated the in vitro digestibility and degradability of Urochloa decumbens and Cynodon dactylons var Tiffton 85 inoculated with isolates of Aspergillus spp. from the gastrointestinal tract cattle. Four cows with rumen fistula were used as rumen contents donors to determine the in vitro digestibility of dry matter (IVDMD). The treatments were, as follows: control - No fungal inoculum, AT13 – (with Aspergillus terreus isolate), AF69 – (with Asperillus fumigates isolate, MIX (with mix of fungi AT13 and AF69). The analyses were performed in rumen simulator with four replications. The gas production was determined by semi-automatic method for both gas and the mechanics ability to fiber colonization of these fungi isolates were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. The inclusion of AF69 and MIX promoted significant increase of IVDMD of U. decumbens (41.4 - 42.1%). The dry matter degradability were not influenced by the inoculums types using the by semi-automatic gas production method However, they linearly increased with fermentation time. The two isolates of Aspergillus spp. were able to colonize the U. decumbens fiber showing production of mycelium and reproductive structures in electronic microscopic analyses. The addition these Aspergillus isolates promotes significant increase of IVDMD to U. decumbens, indicating promising potential for development of microbial or probiotic additive to cattle raised on lignified tropical pasture.
... The lignin content in plants is one of the main limitations affecting the cell wall digestibility in ruminants (Krehbiel, 2014). In the trees analyzed, the lignin values were adequate, since the highest value was 8.4% for leucaena pods, a level that does not limit feed intake and DM digestibility (Moore and Jung, 2001;Harper and McNeill, 2015). ...
... However, despite the relatively low levels of NDF and FDF in leaves of these trees, IVDMD was moderate, which is not in line with findings of Landa-Becerra et al. (2016), who found values of IVDMD for leaves of mesquite and huisache of 70% and 73%, respectively, in the dry season in dry tropic conditions, but Ortiz-Domínguez et al. (2017) report a 46.38% digestibility for leucaena pods. It is known that DM digestibility is related to several factors such as NDF, ADF, CT, and lignin, the latter being the most important since it limits the microbial fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis of cell wall polysaccharides (Moore and Jung, 2001). ...
The objective of this study was to determine the nutritional value of three leguminous trees heavily selected by goats in a xerophilous shrubland. Chemical composition and in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) of leaves and pods from leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), mesquite (Prosopis laevigata), and huisache (Acacia farnesiana) is presented. Crude protein (CP) ranged from 17.3% for leaves of huisache to 21.9% for leucaena. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content ranged from 39.0 to 40.3 with no difference among fodder threes. Across tree species, mean IVDMD was 61.6% for pods and 52.2% for leaves. IVDMD for leaves was highest (p < 0.01) for leucaena (54.9%) and lowest for huisache (47.3%). Condensed tannins in an acetonic extract were highest for leaves of huisache (45.3 mg CE/g DM) and lowest for mesquite (25.9 mg CE/g DM). Pods and leaves of huisache presented the highest number of secondary metabolites, mainly related to hydroxybenzoic acid and flavonols; leucaena and mesquite presented mainly flavonols and anthocyanins. It was concluded that leaves and pods of leucaena, mesquite, and huisache constitute valuable forages for ruminant livestock due to their low fiber, high CP levels, moderate in vitro fermentation characteristics and high mineral content.
... In recent years, some researchers have begun evaluating potential NDF digestibility as a critical quality indicator in new feed evaluation systems in addition to the presence of lignocellulosic fibers (Koukolová et al., 2004). Moore and Jung (2001) concluded that high IVDMD resulting from a higher grain share due to the more advanced maturity stage the hybrids were harvested at can be distinguished from those which have genetically better fiber quality by comparing NDFD values. Decreased NDF digestibility indicates poor dry matter digestibility, and as a result, feed's energy value and animals' performance are both decreased (production of meat and milk) (Milašinović-Šeremešić et al., 2017). ...
This study's primary objective was to assess the quality parameters of fifteen different genotypes of Serbian maize hybrids in order to establish whether they were suitable for making high-quality silage for ruminant feed. The study was carried out as a two-year field experiment at the Maize Research Institute in Zemun Polje, Serbia. Laboratory analyses included the yield structure of the examined maize hybrids, the evaluation of the composition of lignocellulosic fiber and the percentage of their ratios, as well as the in vitro dry matter digestibility and NDF digestibility of the whole plant samples. The Fisher's LSD test was used to statistically analyse the data, which were then reported as the mean and standard deviation of at least three independent replicates. The graphical representation of correlations among the observed parameters used the principal component analysis (PCA) method. All maize hybrids have displayed high-quality characteristics, which are required for the production of high-quality silage.
... Lignification of the plant cell wall generally increases with increasing plant maturity and within specific forage species; increased lignification is associated with reduced digestion by interfering the digestion of cell wall polysaccharides by acting as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes (Moore & Jung, 2001). White rot fungi i.e. ...
This mini review describes dietary fibers, their source and compositions. It explores the importance of fiber in the animal diet, health benefit and how fiber contributes to the production of healthy animals in post antibiotics era. The review also discusses fiber fermentation, role in nutrient digestion, enzyme production and how the gut microbiota responds to a selection of fibers. And the components of fiber that increases microbiota which are commensal to the mucus and epithelium of gut. Lastly, recommendations are made on how dietary fiber could be used to achieve maximum advantages in terms of nutrient utilization, performance, and gut health in both monogastric and ruminant animals.
... The lignin content of 464.9 ± 3.8 g·Kg −1 DM present in A. melanoxylon stands out among the various unconventional forages. The high value of ADL will correspond to a low percentage of in vitro DMD (27.02 ± 1.26%), because lignin is difficult to digest, with a negative correlation between lignin concentration and digestibility [39]. ...
This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional potential of unconventional plants: Pittosporum undulatum, Cryptomeria japonica, Acacia melanoxylon, Hedychium gardnerianum, Eucalyptus globulus, and Arundo donax, as an alternative roughage for ruminants. Chemical composition, gross energy, in vitro gas production, kinetics, and digestibility of dry matter and organic matter in vitro were determined for each species. The obtained results showed variations between the studied forages concerning crude protein, and the different fiber fractions: NDF, ADF, and ADL The P. undulatum with a relative food value of 92.12%, showed a significant difference compared to the other species under study. After 96 h of incubation, the plants that produced, on average, less in vitro gas were A. melanoxylon and E. globulus. Among the studied species, A. donax stands out as the species that presented the highest gas production, with 31.53 mL. 200 mg−1 DM, observing a significant difference compared to the other plants. This is a reflection of it having the highest DMD (60.44 ± 1.22%) as well. P. undulatum was the species with the longest colonization time (4.8 h). Among the plants studied, we highlight P. undulatum as presenting a good quality in the RFV index and A. donax as having good digestibility. Both can be used as roughage in periods of greater shortage of pastures.
... The amount of lignin in browse leaves determines how much they will be digested [ 69 , 74 ], this is related to the current study results which showed high lignin content and low degradability value after 36 and 48 hour incubation in mixed browse leaves harvested from HCL soil type. Furthermore, Moore et al. [75] stressed that lignin acts as a physical barrier to microbes, preventing them from digesting cell-wall polysaccharides. The high digestion of bulked leaves from the HCL soil type might have been influenced by the high protein content found in them, due to the presence of N fixer browse species which are D. cinerea and G. flava . ...
The aim of the study was to investigate tree species density, canopy cover and nutritive value of bulked browse species in selected CPAs of South Africa. These selected CPAs, (Mawela (Hutton- clay loam: HCL), Bela-Bela (Hutton-clay: HL), Moretele (Hutton-loamy sand: HLS) and Ramorula (Ecca sand-clay loam: ESCL) are all situated in Bela-Bela municipality, South Africa. Three 200m transects served as replicates were laid 50m apart from each other in each of the three camps per CPA. In each of the three transects per camp, sub-trasects were marked at 50m interval (50, 100,150 and 200m) to create four 10×10m homogenous vegetative units making a total 12 HUVs per camp. Woody species density, total tree equivalent, height and canopy cover (CC) were recorded. Harvested leaves were bulked and ground to be analysed for nutritive value. Hutton-loamy sand soil type had high (P<0.05) total plant density (4300 plants/ha), CC (55.78 %) and total tree equivalent (5068.9 plant/ha) compared to other soil types. Bulked leaves from ESCL soil type had the highest (P<0.05) crude protein (140.57 g/kg DM). HCL had higher (P<0.05) soluble phenols (599.9 gTAE/kg) and condensed tannins (AU550/200mg). Bulked leaves from all soil types had a great potential in being a good cheap protein source for livestock as they had high protein content and dry matter degradability. Due to the highest number of woody species (seedlings and matured trees), it is of paramount importance to manage the high tree population present in certain CPAs so as to promote growth of the herbaceous layer as the ruminant primary feed source.
... Se ha documentado que su concentración puede alcanzar valores de 11% MS (Arias-Gamboa et al., 2018), lo que justifica el incremento de este compuesto conforme aumenta la cantidad de T. diversifolia en la mezcla ensilada.La lignina es un componente de la fibra que está relacionado con la disponibilidad de los otros componentes de la pared celular. Esto es de especial importancia si se considera que la digestibilidad de la fibra tiene mayor impacto sobre la productividad del animal, en comparación con la digestibilidad de cualquier otro nutriente(Moore y Jung 2001;Combs, 2014). Por esta razón, deben ser analizadas la concentración y el tamaño de partícula (efectividad) de la fuente de forraje; así como la cantidad de fibra que puede ser aprovechada como energía por el rumiante.Nutrición Animal Tropical _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Nutrición Animal Tropical 16 (2): 71-90 ISSN: 2215-3527/ 2022 84En este sentido, se determinó que la fibra detergente neutro digestible (dFDN) de los ensilados fue afectada por la inclusión de T. diversifolia en la mezcla ensilada. ...
El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar el efecto de la inclusión de Tithonia diversifolia sobre las características físicas, fermentativas y nutricionales de los ensilados de pasto Cuba OM22 con guineo cuadrado. El estudio se llevó a cabo entre setiembre del 2020 y julio del 2021. Se utilizó un diseño irrestricto completamente al azar donde se mezclaron pasto Cuba OM22 con botón de oro (Tithonia diversifolia) en las proporciones porcentuales 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 y 100:0. A estas mezclas proporcionadas se les agregó 10% de Musa sp. y 5% de melaza en base fresca. El ensilaje se desarrolló en microsilos de bolsa plástica de 5 kg con cierre hermético durante 60 días. Se encontró que el forraje de T. diversifolia afecta las características físicas de los ensilados, sobre todo en color y textura; mientras que el pH no fue diferente entre los tratamientos. La concentración de materia seca disminuyó al igual que la fibra detergente neutro (FDN) y la fibra detergente neutro digestible (dFDN). Por otra parte, la T. diversifolia aumentó los contenidos de proteína Cruda (PC) y carbohidratos no fibrosos (CNF). El incremento encontrado fue de 0,5 puntos porcentuales en la PC, en los CNF el aumento fue de 4,25 puntos porcentuales y la FDN se redujo a razón de 5 puntos. En todos los casos, por cada incremento de 25% en la inclusión de T. diversifolia; estos efectos se reflejaron en un aumento de la cantidad de nutrientes digestibles de los ensilados. En conclusión, la inclusión de T. diversifolia permitió mejorar la calidad nutricional de los ensilados sin afectar el proceso fermentativo, aunque su calidad física sí pudo verse afectada debido a la mayor humedad que posee el forraje de esta arbustiva.
... The NDF value represents the complete cell wall, which includes both the ADF and hemicellulose fractions. In the rumen, cellulose and hemicellulose are partially digested, whereas lignin is an indigestible fiber [41,42]. In this study, NDF remained at lower levels, too, compared to hay produced by other crops [43,44]. ...
Nowadays, the lack of cattle feed, particularly green fodder, has become a key limiting factor in the agricultural economy. Switchgrass appears to offer a viable solution to the feed shortage. An improved cultivation practice might be needed to boost switchgrass forage production all season long. This study was conducted to quantify the positive effects of introducing different legume crops (vetch and pea), optimally fertilized, on the production and quality of mixed harvested switchgrass–legumes hay in late spring (May) and switchgrass hay harvested once more in early fall (September). The studied intercropping systems, independently of the legume species used, increased forage productivity (almost threefold), reaching 7.5 t ha−1 and quality characteristics, with protein content almost rising threefold, reaching 12.5%. The aforementioned practice can assist the perennial crop (switchgrass) in providing a high hay production during the early fall harvest, even without fertilization. The overall annual economic benefit for the farmers may be increased by 90–720 € per ha, depending on the prevailing weather conditions. Overall, it may be concluded that the suggested cropping system produces a significantly higher yield of cattle feed compared to traditional monocultures, improving the agricultural economy while reducing the negative effects of modern agriculture on the environment.
... The CP content of the three tropical legumes investigated in the present study exceeded 200 g/kg DM, which is of interest to supplement the poor-quality tropical forages with low CP contents (Njidda and Nasiru, 2010;Ahmed et al., 2018). Nevertheless, L. leucocephala forage meal contained high amounts of fiber (mainly ADFom and lignin (pm)) which limits its metabolizable energy content (Moore and Jung, 2001;Du et al., 2016). The PSM content of plants partially reflects their adaptation to their environment and defense against natural enemies, such as competitors, pathogens, and/or herbivores (Makkar et al., 2007a). ...
In this study, the in vitro apparent rumen degradability of organic matter (ARDOM) and plant secondary metabolites (ARDPSM) of three tropical legumes (Mucuna pruriens, Canavalia ensiformis, and Leucaena leucocephala) were assessed. For this, 3 experiments were set up, i.e., single end-point incubations (24 h) with ruminal inoculum from either Belgian or Cuban sheep, as well as kinetic assessments (0 h, 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h, 10 h, 12 h, and 24 h) inoculum from Belgian sheep. L-mimosine, L-canavanine, Concanavalin A (Con A), and trypsin inhibitor (TI) were the plant secondary metabolites (PSM) targeted in this study. In all three experiments, both beans, as well as forage/bean meals of M. pruriens and C. ensiformis and their PSM, were extensively degraded during 24 h incubation, irrespective of the inoculum source (0.44 to 0.70 and 0.43 to 0.78 g/g of organic matter (OM) for ARDOM, respectively, and > 0.80 g/g for L-canavanine, > 0.76 TIU/TIU for TI, and > 0.95 g/g for Con A, for both legumes). Forage meal of L. leucocephala was considerably less degraded, with apparent ruminal degradabilities of 0.20 g/g OM and 0.35 g/g OM after 24 h incubation with Belgian or Cuban sheep inoculum, respectively. This could – at least partially – be related to L-mimosine, present in L. leucocephala, which was hardly degraded in the Belgian incubation, while a more extensive ruminal breakdown was observed under the Cuban conditions (0.05 g/g PSM vs. 0.78 g/g PSM, respectively). The negative effect of L-mimosine on OM degradability was supported in an additional in vitro experiment with straw and inoculum from Belgian sheep, as ruminal degradation of straw was 31% lower when pure L-mimosine was supplemented.
... Lignin has a deleterious effect on the nutritional availability of plant fiber, which is why it is regarded as a low-quality component in forages. By serving as a physical barrier to microbial enzymes, lignin prevents the digestion of cell wall polysaccharides such as cellulose and hemicellulose [49]. A Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the cladodes pH was not significantly different between cactus pear accessions. ...
In Kutch (Gujarat District, India), there is a growing concern about the lack of good quality forage owing to the arid climate and poor soil health. Opuntia ficus-indica has been increasingly recognized as a drought-resilient forage in arid Kutch. This study seeks to identify the maturity phase of cactus cladodes with the best forage qualities. Five accessions of spineless forage cactus (CBG, No. 1270, No. 1271, No. 1308, and Bianca Macomer) and three cladode maturity phases (young, intermediate, and mature) were examined in a randomized block design experiment in a 5 × 3 factorial arrangement. Although only mineral matter and total carbohydrate concentration were significantly different among the accessions, CBG showed better forage qualities than other accessions. Dry matter, organic matter, mineral matter, crude protein, ether extract, and total carbohydrate accumulations were higher in the intermediate phase. In the mature phase, relatively difficult to digest fiber components such as neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose increase. Our findings indicate that for spineless forage cactus grown in arid areas, the intermediate phase is the best phase to harvest cladodes for feeding livestock.
... abyssinica could be described as having a higher feeding value owing to its high gas production. This was evident in the as shown in Figure 2. According to Moore and Jung [20] lignin concentration is reported to be negatively correlated with gas production. Rendering on the author's purview, the lignifi cation of cell wall limits the functions of rumen microbial fl ora such as fermentation or enzymatic breakdown of forage polysaccharides and this may result in lower passage rate and digestibility of the grass. ...
p>Limited access to fodder with fair nutritive characteristics especially during dry periods is a challenge to livestock farming. However, it is envisaged that evergreen bamboo with year-round litter production and high nutritive characteristics, may provide a valuable supplementary source of feed. In Ghana, bamboo use as fodder is largely unknown and efforts to promote its use will require an understanding of base feed quality and results disseminated. Therefore, a field fodder quality experimentation using twenty Djallonké kids (juvenile goats) of 1-year-old with a mean initial weight of 13.77 ± 1.16 kg for the trial and allotted to four dietary treatments in a completely randomized block design with five replicates per treatment was conducted. The study sought to assess the effect of leaves of two bamboo species (Oxytenanthera abyssinica and Bambusa balcooa) as a feed supplement to goats fed on basal diets of Pennisetum purpureum and Brachiaria decumbens. The fodder quality results indicated that nutrient composition and in vitro gas production of the treatments varied significantly among the grasses and the bamboo supplement. The highest crude protein and in vitro gas production was observed in O. abyssinica. Besides, O. abyssinica diets recorded the highest daily gain and the lowest feed-to-gain ratio. The treatment effect was significant on blood variables measured. Bamboo leaves are a viable feed supplement for goats as shown by their nutrient profile and positive influence on the growth performance of goats. Hence, the leaves of any of the bamboo species could be used as supplemental feed for goats. </p
... Mekuriaw et al. (2020) reported that secondary polyphenols were significantly and negatively correlated with gas production, in vitro organic matter digestibility and metabolizable energy. The cell wall components especially lignin can be decreased digestibility by inhibiting microbial enzymes from reaching the cell wall (Moore and Jung, 2001). Also, tannins can negatively affect digestibility (Jayanegara et al. 2015) and also can bind to protein or cell wall polysaccharides and inhibit their digestibility (Archana et al., 2010). ...
This study aims to determine the chemical composition and in vitro fermentation characteristics of Quercus coccifera, Phillyrea latifolia, Ephedra major, Spartium junceum leaves at different sampling periods and to determine the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG), and concentrate feed (CT) supplementation on fermentation kinetics in in vitro incubations. Shrub samples were harvested in March, April, June, July, September and October. The chemical composition and in vitro fermentation characteristics of the shrub species were determined. Furthermore, the nutritive value of shrub species were estimated with the requirements for model goats’ maintenance and lactation periods in respect to energy and protein concentration. Dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and total phenolic compounds (TP) concentration differed significantly among sampling periods (P < 0.05). The cumulative gas production of Quercus coccifera, Phillyrea latifolia and Ephedra major were significantly changed by sampling periods (P < 0.05). The PEG treatments significantly increased the cumulative gas production in Quercus coccifera and Ephedra major (P < 0.05). The CT treatments significantly increased cumulative gas production in Ephedra major (P < 0.05). In conclusion, it is thought that the shrub species that are the subject of this study will not be adequate to meet the nutrient needs of a high-yielding goat, and supplementary with protein-rich feeding, will be needed.
... Additionally, all of the grass species tested in study, except for tall wheatgrass and orchard grass, accumulated a higher lignin content in Adana than in Cankiri. These results were most likely connected with the increased activities of the lignin synthetic enzymes and dry matter partition into the lignified tissues with thickened secondary walls under higher temperature conditions (Da Silva et al., 1987;Cone and Engels, 1990;Buxton and Fales, 1994;Moore and Jung, 2001). Significantly Table 9 Variation on cell wall components (Data over 3 years). ...
In order to achieve economically viable and sustainable solid biofuel production from perennial grasses, high biomass productivity must be complemented by good combustion quality. The aim of this research was to compare the combustion quality of 7 cool-season perennial grasses, comprising bulbous canary grass, reed canary grass, smooth brome grass, orchard grass, tall wheatgrass, tall fescue, and perennial ryegrass, and 3 warm-season perennial grasses, comprising switchgrass, miscanthus, and giant reed, over 2 harvest times (autumn, winter/ early spring) in 2 contrasting semi-arid environments (Adana, and Cankiri, Turkey). Delaying the harvest from the autumn to the winter or the spring significantly increased the lignin contents of each of the 3 warm-season grasses and generally decreased the contents of all of the minerals, except for Al and Fe, in miscanthus and switchgrass, and K and Na in giant reed, at both locations. Similar trends were also generally observed for all of the cool-season grasses, except for the orchard grass that was grown in Cankiri. Additionally, delayed harvest resulted in lower slagging tendency and sintering risk in all of the perennial grass species, except for giant reed in Cankiri. However, the autumn harvest caused significantly higher lignin, but generally lower N, P, K, Ca, S, Si, Al, and Fe contents, slagging tendency, and sintering risk in most of the cool-season grasses that were grown in Adana. On the other hand, despite the autumn harvest in Adana, and the spring harvest in Cankiri provided a substantial improvement in combustion quality of the cool-season grasses, mainly due to the reduced mineral and increased lignin contents, they still exhibited relatively lower combustion quality than miscanthus and switchgrass, especially in Adana. These results showed that further effort is needed to improve the combustion quality of cool-season grasses in order for them to be primary biomass feedstock alternatives for dry marginal lands of semi-arid environments.
... Una mala alimentación, con alto contenido de fibras, puede aumentar el gasto energético, así como la producción de metano y consumos voluntarios (Weiss, 1993a(Weiss, , 1993bCruz y Sánchez, 2000;Bedoya et al., 2016). Respecto a la MS, allí es donde se encuentran concentrados los nutrientes, y varía en las especies forrajeras, así como también varía el contenido de PC, mientras que la cantidad de nitrógeno dependerá del proceso digestivo en los bovinos (Jiménez et al., 2004;Juárez et al., 2005; Juárez y Bolaños 2014), y se relaciona con el AT y la LIG, favoreciendo la palatabilidad e ingesta animal, y teniendo efectos positivos sobre la degradación del rumen y la síntesis de la grasa láctea (Fondevila 2015), aunque la LIG puede ser una barrera física que impide el rompimiento de las paredes celulares y dificulta la adquisición del contenido celular, al no tener una nutrición equilibrada (Moore y Jung, 2001;Francesa, 2017). ...
La ganadería en zonas de vida del bosque seco tropical (Bs-T) es de vital importancia para la economía local; para ello, se busca la implementación de especies forrajeras nutritivas, de fácil digestibilidad y adaptables a las condiciones agroecológicas de Bs-T, especialmente en época seca. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar los componentes nutricionales de 20 plantas forrajeras, una de ellas la Tephrosia purpurea (L) como nueva especie con potencial. Para ello se tomaron los datos suministrados por AGROSAVIA a partir de análisis bromatológicos y se realizó un análisis de los componentes principales (PCA, por sus siglas en inglés) y los conglomerados para agrupar las especies con relación a los valores nutricionales y describir las variables. Se encontró una explicación del 55,9 % en el PCA, donde se relacionan tres grupos sobresalientes para FDA, FDN, PC y MS, entre otras variables, siendo la especie Tephrosia purpurea (L.) la que presenta equilibrio nutricional.
... The authors point out that an increase in its content deteriorates the feed value. According to Moore and Jung [27], lignin is considered an anti-quality component in forages due to its negative impact on the nutritional availability of plant fibre. High content of acid detergent lignin (ADL) indicates that the process of plant lignification is in progress. ...
The aim of the experiment was to determine the effect of foliar application of Tytanit, a stimulator based on titanium, on the content of fibrous fractions, cellulose, and hemicellulose in the cell walls of h. alfalfa and r. clover. The experimental factors were plant species and titanium doses. The content of cell wall fibrous fractions was determined with near-infrared spectroscopy, and Relative Feed Value (RFV), and cellulose and hemicellulose content were calculated based on acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL). The stimulator differentiated the content of fibrous fractions in plant cell walls. Its largest dose lowered ADF content to 2.3% in plant dry matter, and the smallest one increased accumulation of the ADL fraction by 1.6%. NDF content in the dry matter of h. alfalfa and r. clover was lower than the desired optimum for plants used as forage, and the stimulator additionally reduced it by 4.9%. Higher doses of titanium decreased carbohydrate content during unfavourable hydrothermal conditions. However, there was no significant effect of differentiated Tytanit doses on the RFV value.
... However, a country like Malaysia is influenced by monsoon and contains high humidity and the sunlight almost constant throughout the year. This high rainfall and sunlight in tropical monsoon (unlike other tropical regions) promote rapid growth and maturity of the grass to be low in digestibility and crude protein but higher in lignin as compared to other tropical areas (Moore & Jung, 2001). It may also cause undernutrition in livestock production (Duarte et al., 2018) to a certain extend. ...
Swamp buffaloes are mostly raised under an extensive system because they can adapt to the harsh environment. However, exploring the rumen mucosa (RM) morphology and volatile fatty acids (VFA) of swamp buffalo associated with different production systems is still lacking. This study evaluated the rumen VFA and morphology of RM between two groups of buffalo raised under semi-intensive (SI) and an extensive system (EX). VFA was analysed using gas chromatography. The morphology of rumen mucosa was evaluated macro and microscopically for papillae length and width, surface area, density, and muscle thickness, and the microscopic evaluation for stratified squamous epithelium (SSE) and keratin thickness. SI has a greater VFA concentration than the EX. The SSE layer on the dorsal region of the rumen was thicker in the EX group than in the SI group (p≤0.05). Within the group, the SSE of the dorsal region of rumen was thicker than the ventral region (p≤0.05) in the EX group. However, the ventral region of the rumen was thicker than the dorsal region in the SI group. The thickness of the keratin layer in the EX group was significantly thicker than the SI group (p≤0.05) only on PREPRINT the dorsal region. In conclusion, swamp buffalo from the SI production system has a greater concentration of volatile fatty acid than the EX-group contributed by feeding management under a semi-intensive system. Nevertheless, the advantage in VFA concentration alone is not sufficient to conclude semi-intensive production system exerts a favourable effect on the morphology of the rumen mucosa.
... Other mixed-feeders, such as impala and goats (Capra spp.), and browsers such as kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), do not feed on shrubs containing more than 5% of condensed tannins during the wet season [69], indicating that tannin concentrations likely also affect their foraging decisions as well. Lignin concentrations in the cell walls of grasses, however, tend to increase as the dry season progresses, decreasing the grass' nutritional value and digestibility [70,71]. It, therefore, seems that elephants may weigh the costs and benefits of grazing versus browsing as a result of their nutritional needs, and this may be one of the key drivers of repeated seasonal switches in diet [22][23][24]. ...
African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) are well-known as ecosystem engineers with the ability to modify vegetation structure. The present study aimed to examine how male elephant foraging behaviour is affected across (a) season (wet versus dry); (b) time of day (before or after noon); (c) presence or absence of other elephants; and (d) reproductive state (musth versus no musth). Six radio-collared adult elephant bulls were observed twice per week from June 2007–June 2008 in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa. Using generalized linear mixed effect modeling, results indicate that elephant bulls graze more during the wet season and browse more during the dry season. To potentially offset the costs associated with thermoregulation during the heat of the day, KNP elephants spent more time foraging during the morning, and more time resting during the afternoon. Male elephants also foraged significantly less when they were associated with females compared to when they were alone or with other males. This is likely due to male–female associations formed mainly for reproductive purposes, thus impeding on male foraging behaviours. In contrast, the condition of musth, defined by the presence of related physical signs, had no significant effect on foraging behaviour.
... Therefore, the ability of monogastric animals to degrade MPF is quite limited, while the multiple intestinal tracts of ruminants (and termites gut microbiomes) are adapted to the digestion of cellulosebased structures (Godon et al., 2013). However, even ruminants only display very limited ability to digest lignin (Chapoutot et al., 2010;Moore and Jung, 2001) which constitute a highly resistant, hydrophobic barrier that survives most biodegradation processes (Triolo, 2013). ...
Residual biomass is acknowledged as a key sustainable feedstock for the transition towards circular and low fossil carbon economies to supply whether energy, chemical, material and food products or services. The latter is receiving increasing attention, in particular in the perspective of decoupling nutrition from arable land demand.
In order to provide a comprehensive overview of the technical possibilities to convert residual biomasses into edible ingredients, we reviewed over 950 scientific and industrial records documenting existing and emerging waste-to-nutrition pathways, involving over 150 different feedstocks here grouped under 10 umbrella categories: (i) wood-related residual biomass, (ii) primary crop residues, (iii) manure, (iv) food waste, (v) sludge and wastewater, (vi) green residual biomass, (vii) slaughterhouse by-products, (viii) agrifood co-products, (ix) C1 gases and (x) others. The review includes a detailed description of these pathways, as well as the processes they involve. As a result, we proposed four generic building blocks to systematize waste-to-nutrition conversion sequence patterns, namely enhancement, cracking, extraction and bioconversion. We further introduce a multidimensional representation of the biomasses suitability as potential as nutritional sources according to (i) their content in anti-nutritional compounds, (ii) their degree of structural complexity and (iii) their concentration of macro- and micronutrients. Finally, we suggest that the different pathways can be grouped into eight large families of approaches: (i) insect biorefinery, (ii) green biorefinery, (iii) lignocellulosic biorefinery, (iv) non-soluble protein recovery, (v) gas-intermediate biorefinery, (vi) liquid substrate alternative, (vii) solid-substrate fermentation and (viii) more-out-of-slaughterhouse by-products. The proposed framework aims to support future research in waste recovery and valorization within food systems, along with stimulating reflections on the improvement of resources’ cascading use.
... Most tropical forages, such as grasses and legumes, have a lignin content of around 6.26% and 8.97% of DM, respectively [6]. The main antiquality role of lignin in forages is in limiting the digestion of animal feed [7]. Astuti et al. [8] found that, by increasing OPF levels to replace elephant grass as a roughage source in animal diets, in vitro dry matter digestibility and in vitro organic matter digestibility were both reduced by 50.7% and 47.7%, respectively. ...
This study aimed to examine the combined effects of urea and calcium hydroxide ensiled oil palm fronds on rumen fermentation and digestibility of Thai native-Anglo Nubian goats. A 4 × 4 Latin square design was used to randomly assign four male crossbred goats (Thai native × Anglo Nubian). The dietary treatments were as follows: ensiled oil palm frond with no additives (EOPF as the control), urea 5% (50 g/kg fresh matter) (E-UOPF 5%), calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) 5% (50 g/kg fresh matter) (E-CaOPF 5%), and combination of urea 2.5% (25 g/kg fresh matter) with Ca(OH)2 (25 g/kg fresh matter) (E-UCOPF 2.5%). The oil palm frond ensiled with different additives did not change the DM intake (p > 0.05). The total TMR intakes range from 69.39 to 77.09 g/kg BW0.75. The goats fed with E-UOPF 5.0% consumed significantly more CP than the other groups (p < 0.05). The E-UCOPF increased ME intake by 4.8%, compared with the control treatment (p < 0.05). E-UOPF 5% and E-UCOPF 2.5% significantly increased the CP digestibility by 19.7% and 17.1%, respectively (p < 0.05). Furthermore, E-CaOPF 5.0% and E-UCOPF 2.5% improved the NDF digestibility by about 10.9% and 9.90%, respectively (p < 0.05). The urea-containing oil palm frond (E-UOPF 5.0% and E-UCOPF 2.5%) had higher blood urea nitrogen (BUN) than the other groups (p < 0.05). The TVFA of goats fed E-UCOPF 2.5% was approximately 15.8% higher than that of goats provide EOPF (p < 0.05). The mean concentration of C3 increased by 7.90% and 11.61%, respectively, when E-CaOPF 5.0% and E-UCOPF 2.5% were provided instead of EOPF (p < 0.05). The total N intake and absorbed were highest (p < 0.05) when goats offered E-UOPF 5.0% (p < 0.05). The goats fed oil palm frond without additives had the lowest percentage of N-absorption/N intake (p < 0.05). This study clearly shows that the most suitable treatment is E-UCOPF 2.5%, which enhances DMD, nutrient digestibility, TVFAs, and nitrogen balance and has no negative effects on rumen microbes. This indicates that E-UCOPF 2.5% may be utilized as an alternate roughage source in TMR diets, accounting for at least 40% of the OPF. However, several factors still require consideration for urea-Ca(OH)2 treatments to be successful, including other concentrations of urea, moisture content, duration of pre-treatment, and the metabolizable protein system.
... This is more evident in plants growing under higher temperatures, like in the tropical regions, which are more likely to have greater lignification of insoluble fiber (Moore and Jung, 2001). This relationship may affect the amount of protein associated with fiber compounds, and resulting in a greater variability with a wide range of protein composition and, therefore, availability. ...
Equations to estimate energetic content of small ruminants’ diets from chemical composition, in tropical conditions, are still not available. The main objective of this study was to develop equations to predict the digestible content (ether extract (EE), non-fiber carbohydrate (NFC), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF)), for different goat and sheep diets. True digestible nutrients and metabolic fecal contribution were the main parameters fitted (Lucas test approach), with exception for NDF, where surface law was used as the main approach. Data from 32 trials, 21 with sheep (n = 881) and 11 with goats (n = 297) were collected. Two approaches where conducted for digestible CP, which considered the nutritional entity test, or bicompartimental estimation for different fractions of CP. Two models were for digestible NDF, which considered the surface law of NDF and lignin interaction with cell wall. Nutritional entity test was also used to estimate digestive content of NFC and EE. There were no effect of species on true digestibility or fecal contribution in estimation of digestible NFC and EE (P>0.05), and only one model was fitted for goat and sheep for each nutrient. The two CP models were fitted without considering the effect of species (P>0.05), as well as NDF. A validation trial was carried from literature data, where data were collected in 50 manuscripts. This step allowed evaluating total digestible nutrients (TDN) prediction, which was made from the sum of digestible nutrients. Also, the estimated metabolic fecal contribution that could be diminished from the main TDN estimate was 4.0. There were conditions to confirm that CP, NFC and EE could be considered homogeneous nutritional entity, and sub-models were adequately applied to study nutrient digestion patterns. Equations to predict digestible CP based on the Lucas test or the surface law theory can be used to estimate the digestible content. Mathematical approaches tested to estimate digestible content of NDF were also indifferent, and both equations based on surface law theory can be used to make the summative procedure to calculate TDN. Then, results of the following equations can be summed to calculate TDN in diets for sheep and goats: dEE (%) = 0.9107 × EE (%) – 0.33; dNFC (%) = 0.9041 × NFC (%) – 3.22; dCP (%) = 0.7934 × CP (%) – 0.44 or dCP (%) = 0.98 × (CP –NDIP)+ 0.7877 × (NDIP-ADIP) - 0.44; and dNDF (%) = {0.7877 × (NDF-Lignin)+[1-(Lignin ÷ NDF) 0.85]}.
... Several authors have reported that warmer temperatures increase lignin deposition and decrease in vitro digestibility compared with forage grown at lower temperatures. [5][6][7][8] Hence, growth strategies capable of enhancing fiber digestibility would benefit dairy systems in tropical and subtropical areas. ...
BACKGROUND
The effect of live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain CNCM I‐1077 (SC) on the ruminal degradability of different forages commonly found in dairy diets in South America was evaluated. We also assessed if SC supplementation interacts with forage group to affect ruminal fiber degradability. Four non‐lactating rumen‐cannulated Holstein cows were randomly assigned to two treatment sequences: Control‐SC‐Control or SC‐Control‐SC, in a switchback design, with three 30‐d periods. Cows in the SC treatment were supplied with 1 × 10¹⁰ colony forming units of yeast daily via rumen cannula. In situ degradability of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (aNDF) was measured in 15 forages collected in South America. Forages were assigned to one of three groups: corn silages, tropical grasses (sugarcane silages and tropical grass silages) and temperate grasses and alfalfa (oat silages, ryegrass silages, alfalfa silage and alfalfa hay).
RESULTS
Cows supplemented with SC had higher (P = 0.05) counts of yeasts and lower (P = 0.03) concentration of lactate in rumen fluid. There was no interaction between forage group and yeast supplementation (P > 0.10) on in situ degradability. The SC increased DM (by 4.6%) and aNDF degradation (by 10.3%) at 24 h of incubation (P < 0.05). Metabolomics revealed that a chemical entity (C17H29N6O3, m/z 365.2284 [M+H]⁺) from the family of lipids and related molecules was suppressed in the rumen fluid of cows supplemented with SC.
CONCLUSION
The SC supplementation improves DM and aNDF degradability regardless the forage group.
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... The collective lower digestibility of the NDF, NSC, CP, OM, and DM fractions of the MS treatment was typically related to the advanced maturity of the fibre source (Sun et al., 2017) and could not be overcome by positive associative effects of a complete diet, despite the increased concentrate to roughage ratio. Maize stover is a by-product of a physiologically mature maize plant, which is associated with an increase in stemto-leaf ratio, lignin content and lignification (Moore & Jung, 2001). Lignin covers the cellulose microfibrils and binds chemically to hemicellulose (in NDF fraction) and pectin (in NSC fraction). ...
Inexpensive fibre sources might be used as an alternative to lucerne hay in diets for finishing lambs. Thus, effects of providing fibre from lucerne hay (LH), soyhulls (SH), maize stover (MS) and Eragrostis teff hay (ET) on the nutrient digestibility of diets of finishing lambs with comparable NDF and nutrient concentration were evaluated. Thirty-six individually housed Merino ram lambs (x̄ = 43.03, SD = 3.72 kg) were randomly allocated to four diets (n = 9 lambs/treatment). A digestibility study was conducted to determine the nutrient availability of these diets. Dry matter (DM) intake of SH (1436 g) was lower than ET (1716 g). No differences were recorded between treatments for digestibility of NDF (0.32 - 0.34), acid detergent fibre (ADF) (0.41 - 0.44), and ether extract (EE) (0.67 - 0.75), except that MS (0.23) had lower NDF digestibility. Digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM) and non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) were similar for the LH (0.72; 0.75; 0.96) and SH (0.70; 0.74; 0.95) diets, whereas digestibility of crude protein (CP) (0.71 vs. 0.68), metabolizable energy (ME) (9.49 vs. 8.90 MJ/kg DM), and the available ash fraction (0.39 vs. 0.28) were altered. The SH and ET (8.70 MJ/kg DM) treatments had similar ME concentrations, but ET had lower DM digestibility (0.68). The MS treatment had the lowest ME concentration (8.25 MJ/kg DM). The LH treatment resulted in overall better nutrient availability compared with SH, MS, and ET.
... A major concern when feeding GP to ruminants is its high lignin content. Lignin can compromise fiber digestion by limiting fibrolytic enzyme access to cellulose and hemicellulose (Moore and Jung, 2001). In turn, this slows down digesta passage rate and, ultimately, causes a decrease in DMI related to fill effects. ...
Because of its high content of polyphenolic compounds, dietary inclusion of grape pomace (GP) in ruminant diets can reduce reactive nitrogen (N) and methane emissions and enhance the shelf life and beneficial fatty acids content of meat. However, dietary inclusion of GP beyond a threshold that is still to be determined for feedlot cattle, can also compromise nutrient supply and, thus, growth performance. This study investigated the optimum proportion of GP in finishing cattle diets. Nutrient intake and apparent total tract digestion, ruminal pH and fermentation, estimated microbial protein synthesis, route of N excretion, and blood metabolites were measured. Six ruminally-fistulated crossbred beef heifers (mean initial BW ± SD, 714 ± 50.7 kg) were used in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square with 21-d periods. Dietary treatments were 0, 15, and 30% of dietary dry matter (DM) as GP, with diets containing 84, 69, and 54% dry-rolled barley grain, respectively. There was a linear increase (P = 0.07) in DM intake and quadratic change (P ≤ 0.01) in neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake. There was a quadratic change (P ≤ 0.04) in apparent total-tract DM, NDF, and crude protein digestibility as dietary GP content increased. However, there were no treatment effects (P ≥ 0.18) on total ruminal short-chain fatty acid concentration and duration and area pH < 6.2, 5.8, and 5.5. Although N intake did not differ (269, 262, 253 g/d; P = 0.33) across dietary treatments, feeding GP led to a tendency for a quadratic change (P ≤ 0.07) in ruminal ammonia-N and plasma urea-N concentrations. Total N excretion also changed (quadratic, P = 0.03) because of changes (quadratic, P = 0.02) in fecal N excretion as urinary excretion of N and urea-N did not differ (P ≥ 0.15) across treatments. Feeding GP led to quadratic changes (P ≤ 0.01) in fecal excretion of fiber-bound N. Microbial N flow and apparent N retention also changed (quadratic, P ≤ 0.04) as dietary GP proportion increased. In conclusion, responses to dietary GP proportion were mostly quadratic with indications that nutrient supply as reflected by changes in apparent total tract nutrient digestibility, microbial N supply, and apparent N retention could be compromised beyond a 15% dietary inclusion level.
... For example, Ammar et al. (2005) found lower CP, similar NDF and ADF and much higher lignin contents in Q. suber in Tunisia. This is probably related to the faster lignification process in tropical and arid environments than in temperate environments (Kenneth and Hans-Joachim 2001). Also, in the case of C. ladanifer, Guerreiro et al. (2016) found higher CP contents, comparable cell wall content and lower digestibility values than those found in the present study. ...
Oak woodlands (OW) have historically been important in the Mediterranean region since they provide an important amount of goods and services, such as fodder and shelter for extensive livestock production systems. However, OW lost relevance as a fodder supplier due to the specialization and intensification of livestock production. Nowadays, with the challenges emerging from climate change and other environmental concerns, OW are regaining interest as silvopastoral systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seasonal variation of the chemical composition and the in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) of key browse species in grazed OW in the north of Portugal. Additionally, the feeding value was compared with the requirements of goats’ maintenance and late pregnancy. The browse species evaluated were Quercus suber, Q. rotundifolia, Q. faginea, Juniperus oxycedrus, Cytisus scoparius, C. multiflorus, Genista falcata, Cistus ladanifer, and Lavandula stoechas. The data were analysed by a two way analysis of variance focusing on species and season and their interaction. The results obtained varied significantly among the species studied regarding the crude protein content (CP) (41.6–195.9 g kg⁻¹ dry matter (DM)), fibres (neutral detergent fibre (NDF): 316.7–632.5 g kg⁻¹ DM; acid detergent fibre (ADF): 246.0–468.0 g kg⁻¹DM; acid detergent lignin (ADL): 90–210.5 g kg⁻¹ DM), IVOMD (33.02–71.34%), and metabolizable energy (ME) (5.78–11.42 MJ kg⁻¹ DM). Both C. ladanifer and Q. rotundifolia have inadequate ME and CP levels to meet the nutritional needs of goats with 45 kg of live weight. Only leguminous shrubs cover CP needs in late pregnancy.
... The low DMI observed for the A. mearnsii diet might be because of the high fiber content and presence of condensed tannins in this diet. High content of dietary fiber, especially the lignin fraction, acts as a physical barrier between cell wall components and microbial enzymes [43], hence prevents or reduces their degradation in the rumen. The digesta is, therefore, retained longer in the rumen because of reduced digestibility and contributes to the fill effect of the diet thereby reducing DMI [44,45]. ...
Beef production in the smallholder sector of South Africa is constrained by low feed quantity and quality, particularly protein during the dry season. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of replacing Glycine max in a complete finisher beef cattle diet with either Acacia mearnsii leaf meal or Medicago sativa hay on growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of steers. Thirty-six, 12-months old nondescript crossbred steers (157.9 ± 31.37 kg body weight) were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments (12 animals/treatment), with A. mearnsii and M. sativa replacing G. max (control diet) at 500 g/kg dry matter (DM) of diet. Steers fed the A. mearnsii diet had lower (P ≤ 0.05) DM intake, average daily gain, feed efficiency and carcass weights than those fed G. max and M. sativa diets with no difference found between G. max and M. sativa treatments (P > 0.05). Diet had no influence on any of the measured meat physicochemical traits (P > 0.05). Overall, steers fed the M. sativa and G. max diets had similar growth performance and meat yield, but higher (P ≤ 0.05) than that of steers fed the A. mearnsii diet. Current results suggest that M. sativa is a better alternative protein source to G. max for smallholder beef cattle compared to A. mearnsii.
Bu araştırma, dallı darı (Panicum virgatum L.) çeşitlerinin farklı biçim devrelerinde ot verimi ve kalitesi ile silaj kalitesinin belirlenmesi amacıyla, 2019-2020 yıllarında Siirt Üniversitesi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Araştırma ve Uygulama Arazisi’nde yürütülmüştür. Araştırmada dallı darının Kanlow, Shelter, Shawnee, BoMaster, Alamo, Trailblazer, Cave in Rock ve Long Island çeşitleri ile tesadüf blokları deneme desenine göre 4 tekrarlamalı olarak kurulan çok yıllık deneme alanı tesisi araştırmanın yerini oluşturmuştur. Her bir çeşit ve tekerrürü bazında üst parselasyon yapılarak biçim devresi için parseller dizayn edilmiştir. Çeşit ve biçim devresinin araştırma konusu olarak ele alındığı çalışmada; biçim devresi olarak çiçeklenme öncesi, % 50 çiçeklenme ve tam çiçeklenme dönemleri incelenmiştir. Buna göre çeşitler ana parsellere, biçim devreleri alt parsellere getirilerek araştırma, tesadüf bloklarında bölünmüş parseller deneme desenine göre yürütülmüştür. Çalışmada bitki boyu, sap kalınlığı, bitki örtüsü sıcaklığı, klorofil içeriği, kardeş ağırlığı, yeşil ve kuru ot verimi, ham protein (HP) oranı, HP verimi, asit deterjanda çözünmeyen lif (ADF) oranı, nötral deterjanda çözünmeyen lif (NDF) oranı ve nispi yem değeri gibi ot verimi ve kalitesi ile ilgili parametreler ele alınmıştır. Silaj kalitesi çalışması kapsamında ise; koku, strüktür ve renk gibi fiziksel özellikler, kuru madde (KM) oranı ve pH, laktik asit (LA), asetik asit (AA), bütirik asit (BA)’ten oluşan silaj kimyasal özellikleri ile Fleig puanı (FP) gibi parametreler incelenmiştir. Araştırmada, yapılan istatistiksel analizler sonucunda, çeşitlerin ve biçim devrelerinin incelenen hemen her parametreler üzerinde anlamlı etkilerinin olduğu saptanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, yılların ve biçim devrelerinin ortalaması olarak dallı darı çeşitlerinin; bitki boyunun 108.4-174.1 cm, sap kalınlığının 2.65-4.80 mm, bitki örtüsü sıcaklığının 30.1-34.4 oC, klorofil içeriğinin % 29.3-34.6, kardeş ağırlığının 3.35-12.76 g, yeşil ot veriminin 2170.3-5108.6 kg/da, kuru ot veriminin 908.6-2114.6 kg/da, HP oranının % 3.02-5.97, HP veriminin 52.3-64.7 kg/da, ADF oranının % 39.66-45.31, NDF oranının % 75.49-83.44 ve nispi yem değerinin 59.82-71.52 arasında değişkenlik gösterdiği belirlenmiştir. Biçim devresi ilerledikçe; bitki boyu, sap kalınlığı, bitki örtüsü sıcaklığı, kardeş ağırlığı, yeşil ve kuru ot verimi ile otun HP verimi, kuru otun içerdiği ADF ve NDF oranı artarken, klorofil içeriği, otun HP oranı ve nispi yem değeri azalmıştır. Silajı yapılan dallı darı çeşitlerinin koku puanı 12.1-13.9, strüktür puanı 3.4-4.0, renk puanı 1.6-2.0 ve toplam fiziksel puanı 17.2-19.9 arasında değişmiştir. Araştırmada, yılların ve biçim devrelerinin ortalamasına göre dallı darı çeşitlerine ait silajların; KM, pH, LA, AA ve BA ile FP değerleri sırasıyla % 34.3-40.6, 4.52-4.73, % 0.99-1.56, % 0.35-0.63, % 0.056-0.163 ve 85.3-98.2 arasında değişim göstermiştir. Toplam fiziksel puan ve FP değerlerine göre çeşitler genel olarak “çok iyi” kalite sınıfında yer almışlardır. Biçim devresinin ilerlemesine bağlı olarak silaj KM oranı, pH ve FP değerleri artarken; silaj renk puanının, LA, AA ve BA oranlarının azaldığı tespit edilmiştir. Yarı kurak iklim koşullarında elde edilen bu sonuçlara göre dallı darı bitkisi yüksek ot verimi nedeniyle hayvancılık açısından alternatif yem kaynağı olarak ümitvar görünmektedir. Bu anlamda, özellikle Kanlow çeşidi öne çıkmış; genel olarak da ova ekotipine sahip çeşitler (Kanlow, Alamo ve BoMaster) daha yüksek verim potansiyeline sahip olmuşlardır. Ancak incelenen çeşitlerin, araştırmaya konu olan tüm biçim devrelerinde düşük kalitede yem üretmişlerdir. Silaj kalitesi iyi olan dallı darının kuru maddesindeki yapısal karbonhidratların yüksek oranında bulunması nedeniyle vejetasyonun erken dönemlerinde silaj yapılması daha uygun olacaktır.
Se estudia la comunidad vegetal de dos bosques (reforestado y sucesión espontánea) localizados en Calarcá (Quindío), Colombia, y la velocidad de descomposición de la hojarasca de Verbesina nudipes en el suelo forestal. Para evaluar la composición florística se utilizó la técnica del punto y cuarto, seleccionando en cada bosque tres transectos al azar de 100 m cada uno, posteriormente se evaluó durante 90 días la descomposición de hojarasca de V. nudipes. Los resultados muestran que los bosques tienen alta diversidad; la especie con mayor valor de importancia fue Montanoa quadrangularis para el bosque reforestado (BR) y V. nudipes para el bosque en sucesión espontánea (BSE). La familia más importante para las áreas estudiadas fue Asteraceae. Como consecuencia del uso previo dado al suelo, el área de estudio se encuentra en diferentes estadios sucesionales. En relación con la descomposición, la hojarasca disminuyó en más del 50% del peso original en los primeros 30 días del ensayo en ambos bosques. Los datos se ajustaron al modelo exponencial simple con valores medios de K (año-1) de 12 para el BR y 10 para el BSE. La rápida pérdida de peso es consistente con la concentración de N (2,9%) y la relación C/N (14,4%) de la hojarasca. Las diferencias en la tasas de descomposición de los bosques, pueden estar relacionadas con las condiciones físicas del suelo (temperatura y humedad), factores que determinan el metabolismo microbiano y consecuentemente la velocidad de descomposición.
Se evaluó la caída y descomposición de hojarasca de Juglans neotropica Diels (1906) (Juglandaceae) en dos unidades boscosas: bosque maduro intervenido (BMI) y bosque sucesional joven (BSJ) en la reserva natural “El Árbol de La Cheta”, Pijao (Quindío), Colombia. La caída de hojarasca se evaluó en 32 parcelas permanentes de 0,0625 m2, durante 12 meses, la descomposición se determinó con el método de bolsas de hojarasca enterradas, durante seis meses. La caída total de hojarasca en el BMI fue de 48,5 kg/ha1/año1, y para BSJ 50,9 kg/ha1/año1. La biomasa en el BMI estuvo dominada por frutos (50,3%), y la fracción foliar en el BSJ (44,5%). Finalmente no existe diferencia significativa en la caída de hojarasca entre los sitios de muestreo (U = 1.108, p > 0,05). En el proceso de descomposición, la hojarasca perdió más del 50% del peso inicial en los primeros 90 días en el BMI, y en el BSJ perdió el 46,39%. La descomposición de hojarasca se ajustó a un modelo lineal con valores promedios de k (año-1) de 1,76 en el BMI, y 1,74 en el BSJ, con una explicación del 96,34% para el BMI, y del 98,33% para el BSJ. El tiempo requerido para que se descomponga el 99% de la hojarasca es de 2,6 años para los dos sitios. La rápida pérdida de peso es consistente con la concentración de N (5,29%) y la relación C/N (8,37%) de la hojarasca.
Recently, much attention has been drawn towards flavonoids and coumarins as they demonstrate numerous pharmacological properties which have potential to be commercialized as medicines or supplements. Studies have found out that Leucaena leucocephala (L.leucocephala) plant possesses good natural antioxidant and antibacterial sources particularly flavonoids and coumarins that could serve as free radical inhibitors or scavengers. However, the isolation of antioxidants from this plant is often limited by the lignocellulosic components, mainly lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose found in the plant cell wall. The high durability of lignin in both physical and chemical environments has regarded as one of the most non-degradable compounds in nature. Hence, this study is to focus on the proper extraction technique of the phytochemicals to enhance the yield of the desired extracts. An investigation into the effect of time (0 – 48 min, at 12 min interval) and temperature (30 – 70 °C, at 10 °C interval) on the extraction of flavonoids and coumarins from L.leucocephala using microwave assisted hydro-distillation (MAHD) were performed using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Total flavonoid content (TFC) and total coumarin content (TCC) were used for determination of flavonoids and coumarins in the extracts. Experimental results show that highest TFC and TCC were observed at 60 °C in 36 min of extraction. The best conditions were performed using two-way ANOVA revealed that the optimum conditions were the extraction conducted at 60 °C in 12 min with significance different in average TFC and TCC values by both parameters with the p values of p<0.05. TFC and TCC were significantly correlated with time and temperature of the extraction. This finding suggests that the extraction by MAHD only require short period of time to achieve optimum flavonoids and coumarins.
Sustainable forage and livestock production in grazed grasslands are threatened by global climatic change. In this study, we examined how forage quality at the species and community levels in Mongolian drylands might be affected by warming and additional moisture. Four different treatments, a control, open-top chambers (OTCs) only, OTCs with heaters, and OTCs with additional watering, were set up in the field, and air and soil temperature and soil moisture were monitored. A vegetation survey was conducted and plants were harvested during summer, 1 and 2 years after experimental treatments were established. The harvested plant samples were separated into a dominant species (Stipa) or ‘other species’, and analysed to determine acid detergent fibre (ADF) and in vitro dry-matter digestibility (IVDMD). ADF was measured with the detergent method and the digestibility with the pepsin–cellulase assay. Overall, the warming treatments alone (OTC and OTC with heater) increased ADF 10% and 5% more than did the control at the species and community levels respectively, and decreased digestibility 12% and 11% below the control at the community level. Changes in plant nutritional value may have occurred as a result of changes in plant structure for some or all the plant species monitored, and an indirect effect of the shift in botanical species composition owing to warming. Unlike moist grassland, grass nutrition in arid grasslands was sensitive to treatments associated with the predicted effects of global warming as the results of changes in plant nutrition. It is therefore highly possible that Mongolian livestock production will be negatively affected as a result of ongoing global warming.
The local farmers of Central Punjab, Pakistan have been using indigenous grasses as vital components of ruminant diets, but little is reported about their nutritional potential. Hence this study investigated nutritive potential of a selection of ethnobotanically important fodder grasses. Multiple nutritional parameters (proximate components, fibre fractions), secondary metabolites (phenolics, tannins) and in vitro digestibility values were determined. Furthermore, the legitimacy of ethnobotanical knowledge of local inhabitants about these grasses was also verified. The results suggested that majority (77%) of these grasses can be regarded as good quality fodders because of their high protein (169 g/kg) and good digestibility (457 g/kg) with moderate fibre (≤ 602 g/kg), lignin (≤ 50 g/kg) and secondary metabolites (total phenols ≤ 87 g/kg, total tannins ≤ 78 g/kg, condensed tannins ≤ 61 g/kg). Pearson correlation between nutritional parameters indicated that in vitro digestibility values were positively correlated with crude proteins (IVDMD, r = + 0.83 and IVOMD, r = + 0.83 respectively) and negatively correlated with fibre (NDF, r = − 0.91), ADF, r = − 0.84 and ADL, r = − 0.82) contents. Moreover, a positive relationship was identified between ethnobotanical knowledge and laboratory findings for studied grasses. Spearman correlation test showed that ranking of grasses based on ethnobotanical preferences were highly correlated (r values) with the laboratory results for CP (0.85), NDF (− 0.76), ADF (− 0.72) and ADL (− 0.62). The resilient complementarities between ethnobotanical preferences and nutritive analysis authenticate farmer’s traditional knowledge, which needed to be aligned with the corresponding scientific data. Farmers can use these findings for appropriate fodder selection and development of precise supplements for feeding ruminants within a sustainable and economically viable livestock industry for food security.
El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo contribuir al conocimiento de la calidad químico
nutritiva de las diferentes fracciones botánicas (hojas y tallos) y la planta íntegra de las
nuevas variedades de Cenchrus purpureus (CT-601, CT-603 y CT-605) tolerantes a la
sequía en diferentes edades de rebrote (60, 80, 100 y 120 días), en el ecosistema del Valle
del Cauto, provincia Granma. Se determinó el contenido de materia seca, proteína bruta,
calcio, fósforo, magnesio, lignina, celulosa, hemicelulosa, fibra detergente ácido y fibra
detergente neutro, contenido celular y sílice, según diseño completamente aleatorizado
con arreglo factorial y su interacción. Se establecieron matrices de correlaciones lineales
entre los constituyentes de la pared celular de hojas, y planta íntegra en las estaciones
climáticas estudiadas. También se determinó la degradabilidad ruminal in situ de la MS y
MO de las fracciones botánicas y de la planta íntegra de cada variedad en estudio,
correlacionando la degradabilidad ruminal con los constituyentes de la pared celular en
cada órgano y en la planta íntegra con cada estación climática. Se obtuvo la interacción
edad con estación climática tuvo efecto significativo (p≤0.001) sobre la composición
química de las hojas (FDA, celulosa, contenido celular, calcio) y FDN, Hcel y Si para
p≤0.05, sobre los tallos también tuvo efecto la interacción (FDN) para p≤0.01, sin efecto
en la planta íntegra. La edad de rebrote de forma independiente influyó sobre el
contenido de PB en los tallos de forma significativa, también en la planta íntegra (PB,
FDN, contenido celular y sílice) para p≤0.05, mientras que la lignina y hemicelulosa
significaron para p≤0.01 y p≤0.001 respectivamente. Cuando se correlacionaron los
constituyentes para hojas y planta íntegra en la estación lluviosa se observó una alta
correlación entre Lignina, Celulosa y Si y de estos con la FDA y FDN (r=+0.90) excepto
para la hemicelulosa (r=0.10). La mayor contribución a la variabilidad de los constituyentes de la pared celular fue de la celulosa (r2= 73-98 %). Sin embargo, para la
estación de pocas lluvias el comportamiento se invirtió a favor de la hemicelulosa, que se
correlacionó de forma negativa en hojas y positivamente en la planta íntegra, los valores
oscilaron entre 89 y 92, y -85 y -88 para planta íntegra y hojas respectivamente, las
contribuciones obedecieron a la dirección de las correlaciones, que se comportaron entre
54-84 % y 34-86 % (en orden). En la evaluación de los parámetros de la degradabilidad
ruminal in situ de la materia seca, las hojas mostraron un comportamiento por encima del
50% en la fracción potencialmente degradable (a+b), para todas las edades evaluadas.
Para los tallos, el CT-605 tuvo mejor comportamiento que el resto de las variedades en
todas las edades, sin embargo, se observó el mejor resultado de esta fracción a los de 80
días, coincidiendo esta misma edad y fracción para planta íntegra, existió variabilidad
para cada variedad en la degradabilidad de (a+b), el CT-605 mostró mejor
comportamiento para las edades 60, 100 y 120 días. En la dinámica de degradación
ruminal in situ, se observaron curvas ascendentes para todas las edades de rebrote, las
velocidades en función del tiempo variaron en los diferentes órganos debido a las
diferencias entre estructura y morfología celular, alcanzándose en hojas el mayor
porcentaje de degradación a los 60 y 80 días en el CT-603, al igual que en los tallos para
las edades de 60, 80 y 100 días.
Abstract Rapid Arctic climate change is leading to woody plant‐dominated ecosystems with potential consequences for caribou foraging and nutritional ecology. While warming has been clearly linked to shrub expansion, the influence of higher temperatures on variables linked to the leaf‐level quality of caribou forage is equivocal. Moreover, warming results in a complex set of ecosystem changes that operate on different timescales such as not only rapidly accelerating phenology, but also slowly increasing thaw depth and plant access to soil resources. Here, we compare changes in leaf nitrogen (N) concentration, digestibility, and protein‐precipitating capacity (PPC) in short‐term (i.e.
The winery industry produces at least 14.5 million tonnes of solid residues annually, mainly grape (Vitis vinifera) pomace (GP, 20–30% of processed grapes), stalks (2–8%), and wine lees (2–6% of the wine produced). Overall, winery waste management has been linear through landfilling, incineration, and composting with adverse financial, humanitarian, and ecological implications. However, there has been a growing interest to valorise these biowastes into the circular economy to produce high value-added feed and animal source food (ASF). The wine extraction process retains over 70% of bioactive phytochemicals in GP comprising of fibre, sugars, proteins, minerals, polyunsaturated fatty acids, tocopherols, β-carotenoids, and phenolics. Grape seed, GP, and their extracts have been used as feed ingredients and biopreservatives to improve animal health and growth performance, quality of eggs, meat, and milk, and reduce methane and nitrogen emissions. While documentation of these biowastes uses has been increasing, the practical value of grape seed oil, stalks, and wine lees in the feed and ASF is not well documented. The current chapter gives an overview of winery biowastes’ chemistry and their nutritional and phytochemical applications for sustainable animal production and edible products’ quality enhancement.KeywordsAnimal source foodBioactive phytochemicalsGrape biowastesSustainable waste valorisation
ContextThe use of alternative sources in ruminant feeding features advantages such as diminished dependence on traditional cereals that can be used for human consumption or monogastric animals.AimsThis study was conducted to examine nutrient intake, apparent digestibility, mean growth rate, nitrogen balance, and microbial protein synthesis in lambs fed diets containing different energy sources in the concentrate.Methods
The experiment involved five uncastrated Santa Inês lambs, with an initial BW of 22.85±1.0kg, which were allocated individual metabolic cages and randomly assigned to one of the following five experimental treatments: maize (MA), wheat bran (WB), sorghum (SO), mesquite pod meal (MP) and peach palm meal (PP) in a 5×5 Latin square design, with five replicates each. Diets were isoenergetic with a roughage:concentrate ratio of 60:40.Key resultsThe energy sources in the concentrate influenced (P<0.0001) the intakes of DM and nutritional components. The apparent digestibility coefficients of the ether extract and NDFap were significantly (P<0.05) different between WB and the other diets. The different energy sources in the concentrate (MA, WB, SO and MP) increased (P<0.0001) the mean growth rate of the lambs. The diet containing PP as an energy source provided a smaller (P=0.0002) N intake than that from any other diet, and the PP diet resulted in a negative N balance (P=0.0200). Lambs fed with diets containing MP (80.38g day−1) as an energy source showed a larger (P=0.0007) microbial protein synthesis than did those fed with PP (24.47g day−1).Conclusions
Wheat bran, sorghum, and mesquite pod meal can completely replace maize for lambs fed diets based on 270gkg−1 of maize.ImplicationsA variety of unusual feed ingredients facilitates the raising of lambs in various regions, with ingredients being local and of the lowest cost, promoting benefits to sheep producers.
Los pastizales de altura de las Sierras Chicas tienen una historia de pastoreo bovino de
400 años y la mayor frecuencia de fuego de todo el sistema serrano cordobés. Son el
principal recurso forrajero de los sistemas de cría bovina y cumplen una importante
función eco-hidrológica, paisajística y de conservación de la biodiversidad. El objetivo
de la presente tesis es contribuir al ajuste de carga y al manejo del pastoreo en estos
pastizales a través de la caracterización de su vegetación y de la distribución de los
bovinos en pastoreo. Se realizaron censos florísticos, muestreos de suelo, estimaciones
de PPNA, análisis de calidad forrajera y estimaciones de biomasa combustible para
caracterizar la vegetación. Se utilizaron collares GPS para estudiar la distribución de los
bovinos en pastoreo, con el fin de determinar el grado de preferencia por cada comunidad
vegetal. Los resultados revelaron que cada una de las tres fisonomías presentes en los
potreros está asociada a una comunidad vegetal distinta y estas, a su vez, a determinadas
condiciones edáficas. Las comunidades identificadas presentaron diferencias en aspectos
forrajeros, como PPNA y calidad forrajera, que implican diferente capacidad de carga y
necesidad de suplementación. Se observó una marcada heterogeneidad en la distribución
del pastoreo. Los bovinos prefirieron pastorear la comunidad de mayor calidad forrajera
por sobre las de menor calidad, independientemente de la cantidad de forraje disponible.
Las comunidades también se diferenciaron en aspectos referidos a la biomasa
combustible, como combustible total y porcentaje de combustible muerto, que implican
diferencias en el potencial de incendios. La preferencia/aversión por parte de los bovinos
junto con la productividad de cada comunidad determinaron las diferencias en la
acumulación de biomasa combustible.
Hemicelluloses represent a complex mixture of heteropolysaccharides that are key structural components within the plant cell wall. Xylans and mannans are constituents of hemicellulose, which are abundant plant cell wall polysaccharides. They are present in hardwoods and some plants such as grasses, cereals, and herbs. These abundant biopolymers can also be recovered from sidestreams of the agriculture and forestry industry. The interest of lignocellulosic biomass to be employed in bioconversion sectors has significantly increased, since the environmental impact and the possibility of reuse of these materials are boosting the circular bioeconomy with respect to the biorefinery concept. In fact, xylan can be extracted from hemicellulose through different techniques including chemical, physicochemical, and biological pretreatments. After extraction, xylan can be employed in the generation of commercial biobased products such as xylitol, biofuels, hydrogels for drug delivery and biomedical products, enzymes, XOS, packaging materials, and others. This chapter will then aboard importantly concepts about xylan including the description and characteristics, methods and developed technologies for its efficient extraction, and use for different industrial products, also passing through the last innovations on the subject.
The occurrence of the Western corn rootworm and increasing frequency of summer droughts have reduced forage maize yields and quality in Central Europe in recent years. Therefore, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) has been increasingly used as alternative forage in ruminant feeding, although information on the nutritive value of whole crop sorghum silage (WCSS) under Central European climate conditions is scarce. This research project aimed to study differences between sorghum varieties and harvest dates regarding dry matter (DM) yield, chemical composition of fresh panicle, fresh stover, fresh whole plant and WCSS as well as whole tract digestibility and energy content of WCSS. For this purpose, six sorghum varieties, classified by their predominant use (biomass, silage, grain), were cultivated and harvested at three maturity stages (late milk stage, dough stage, full maturity). Furthermore, WCSS quality was compared with feed value of fresh and ensiled forage maize. Dry matter yield was higher (p < 0.05) in biomass sorghum (24.9 t/ha) compared to other sorghum varieties (12.4 to 16.7 t/ha). However, panicle proportion was lowest in biomass sorghum (10.5%), highest in grain sorghum (59.1%) and intermediate in silage sorghum. Fibre content declined and starch content increased with rising panicle proportion in fresh panicle, fresh whole plant and WCSS. Therefore, whole tract organic matter digestibility (66.8%) and metabolisable energy (ME) content (9.49 MJ/kg DM) were highest in grain sorghum silage. Especially low ME content was found in the biomass sorghum silage (7.43 MJ/kg DM). Dry matter yield of sorghum increased between late milk and dough stage of maturity, while it remained constant afterwards. Furthermore, ME content of WCSS rose tendentially (0.05 < p < 0.10) between late milk and dough stage of maturity and dropped again between dough stage and full maturity. Highest nutritive value of WCSS is achieved if grain sorghum varieties are used and both nutritive value and DM yield are optimised if harvest is carried out at dough stage of maturity. However, compared to forage maize, grain sorghum varieties have disadvantages both in DM yield and in nutritive value under common Central European climate conditions.
Forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) grown for silage production is frequently infested by the sugarcane aphid (SCA; Melanaphis sacchari [Zehntner] [Hemiptera: Aphididae]). The objective of this study was to establish first‐time action thresholds for SCA infestation, leaf feeding, honeydew, and/or dead leaves. In this 2‐yr Texas High Plains study, we quantified the impact of varying densities of SCA and subsequent damage beginning at boot stage to yields and silage nutritive value of a susceptible forage sorghum hybrid (Pioneer 841F) by using untreated controls and different insecticide treatments (lambda cyhalothrin, chlorpyrifos, malathion, and flupyradifurone). Aphid damage occurred from boot to flowering growth stages. Damaging infestations continued until harvest in 2017, but SCA densities declined sharply after peaking at the beginning milk growth stage (BMS) in 2019. Damage levels were significantly correlated to increases in aphid densities at BMS (R2 = .91) in 2017 and at 50% bloom (R2 = .83) and BMS (R2 = .86) in 2019. Yield losses increased with increasing damage at the BMS in 2017 (R2 = .82) and 2019 (R2 = .42). Reductions in nutritive value were correlated to yield reductions. Results indicate that SCA infestations should be controlled when ≥20% of the leaf area is infested and damaged at BMS to prevent yield and nutritive value losses in the fresh and ensiled forage. Based on this work, an action threshold for forage sorghums to minimize losses to yield, nutritive value, and economic returns is presented. Sugarcane aphid damage resulted in reduced forage sorghum yields, nutritive value, and economic returns. Nutritive value reductions were the result of SCA damage during early grain development. The nutritive value of ensiled forage was related to the nutritive value of the fresh forage. Properly ensiled forages do not further degrade during the ensiling process. Adoption of the revised action threshold will minimize yield and nutritive value losses.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding formic acid and corn flour supplementation to banana pseudostem silages on the nutritional quality of these silages, growth, digestion, rumen fermentation and cellulolytic bacterial community of Nubian black goats fed these silages. Banana pseudostem silage was prepared either conventionally without any additives (CON) or mixed with 0.6% formic acid (F), 10% corn flour (C), or both (F+C). Four experimental diets containing 40% of the corresponding silages were designed with roughage to concentrate ratio of 50:50 (dry matter (DM) basis). A total of 48 Nubian black castrated goats (body weight (BW), (22.64±1.82) kg; 4-mon-old) were randomized into one of the four treatment groups with 12 replicates of one castrated goat per replicate for each treatment in a completely randomized design. Each group was fed on one of the four experimental diets for 40 days. A factorial arrangement of treatments of 2 (formic acid levels: 0 and 0.6%)×2 (corn flour: 0 and 10%) was adopted. Formic acid supplementation increased (P
In order to utilize alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), alone or in mixture with grasses, defoliation management practices must be evaluated to assess their performance. The objective was to determine forage accumulation (FA) and nutritive value of alfalfa monoculture (ALF) and in mixtures with tall fescue [ATF; Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbyish)] or bermudagrass [ABG; Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers] subjected to four harvest intervals (clipped every 21, 28, 35, and 42‐d). The study was conducted in Crossville, TN and Charleston, OH during 2016 and 2017 growing seasons, and in Salisbury, NC during 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. Harvest intervals of 35‐d or greater showed optimal FA, with greatest productivity in spring. In summer, the plot productivity of ATF was not different than ABG. The ATF mixture was superior to ABG in FA for the entire season. Although tall fescue can be very competitive with alfalfa in mixtures, it results in greater FA while reducing weed competition. Botanical composition indicated greater weed infestation in ALF than mixtures. Growing alfalfa‐grass mixtures can increase sward CP compared with grass monocultures (average of 128 g kg–1 for ATF and 161 g kg–1 for ABG). We conclude that harvest intervals of 35‐d or greater should be adopted to provide greater FA, and treatments ALF and ATF resulted in superior FA compared with ABG in the southern USA. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Cell-wall (CW) components greatly influence digestibility of forages as they mature. There is only limited information on the timing of rates of deposition of CW components. This investigation examined differences in CW and CW component deposition in greenhouse-grown alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), birds-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). Plant material was sampled from the basal 10 cm of forage after harvesting at 3–5 cm above the soil level. Samples analyzed included sheaths from orchardgrass, sheaths and stems from bromegrass and switch-grass, and stems from all legumes. After establishment and herbage removal, samples were collected biweekly between 2 and 10 wk of regrowth. Results indicated that, except for orchardgrass, maximum rates of CW and CW component deposition usually occurred earlier in legumes compared with those of grasses. Maximum CW deposition for all species occurred within 1–3 d of maximum dry weight deposition. Among CW components in grasses and legumes, maximum deposition of hemicellulose occurred first, followed by that of cellulose (1–6 d later), and then lignin (up to 14 d after maximum hemicellulose deposition). Maximum cellulose deposition in all species occurred at the same time as maximum CW deposition.Key words: Cell wall, deposition, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, forage
A study was conducted to evaluate the influences of seasonlong and short duration grazing management on the botanical eompo-sition, chemical composition, and organic matter intake of cattle diets in the Northern Great Plains. Four sampling periods; spring, early summer, late summer, and early fall, were conduct-ed during the grazing seasons of 1990 and 1991. Sii ruminally cannulated crossbred steers were used to collect diets while 10 ruminally cannulated crossbred heifers were used to establish intake values. In each sampling period, diet collections were obtained from the steers, allowed to graze for 60 to 90 min in each of the treatments after total rumen evacuation. Intake was estimated using an indigestible marker and twice-daily fecal col-lections from 5 heifers under each of the 2 treatments. The pri-mary constituent of cattle diets in both seasonlong and short duration treatments was graminoid which was consumed in slightly greater quantity under short duration management. Nutritional content of the diet was improved under short dura-tion management, This is most notable with regard to nitrogen and digestibility, which were higher (pcO.05) in the short dura-tion treatment in 5 of the sampling periods. Organic matter intake trended higher for cattle under short duration manage-ment with 3 of the analyzed sampling periods showing differ-ences (PcO.10). These results suggest that livestock grazing under a properly implemented rotational grazing system may be pre-sented with an opportunity to consume more of higher quality forage.
Cereal stubble and straw are widely used as animal feeds for sheep in arid areas of Morocco. The inherently low protein concentration of these feeds limits their intake and therefore potential of production. A 14-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementation with browse foliage or medic (Medicago sp.) pods on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) straw intake and ewe lamb live weight. Diets were wheat straw (WS), WS plus alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay, WS plus oldman saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl.) foliage, WS plus blue wattle (Acacia cyanophylla Lindl.) foliage, and WS plus medic pods. Alfalfa and urea feeding levels were set to provide a crude protein (CP) concentration of 90 g kg−1 DM in the diet. Shrub foliage and medic pods were offered ad libitum. Atriplex and Acacia foliage supplementation resulted in the highest and lowest straw intake increases, respectively. These findings would contribute to explain why animals receiving Atriplex foliage in addition to wheat straw were the only ones to maintain weight over a 14-week period. Medic pod supplementation resulted in an insignificant weight loss. These results showed that foliage from palatable shrubs and medic pods can be effective protein supplements for livestock consuming wheat straw. Implementing such strategies would require that farmers plant oldman saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl.) shrubs on their private land and manage medic pasture to produce enough pods to be grazed in summer.
Methyl 5-O-(E)-[γ-13C]feruloyl-α-L-arabinofuranoside (FA-Ara) has been synthesized and incorporated into a synthetic lignin dehydrogenation polymer (DHP) of coniferyl alcohol. Inverse-detected long-range C–H correlation NMR experiments on the DHP lignin gave correlation peaks indicative of the copolymerization of the FA-Ara and coniferyl alcohol into the DHP polymer. The bonding sites and modes, as determined by analysis of the carbonyl region of the long-range C–H correlated 2D NMR experiment, are predictable from free-radical coupling mechanisms. In addition to the abundant 4-O-α′ and 4-O-β′ ether couplings, structures involving the β-position of the feruloyl moiety of FA-Ara in β-ether, phenylcoumaran and pinoresinolide structures were present. The incorporation of feruloyl esters into a lignin DHP results in some structures which would not release ferulic acid by solvolytic schemes currently used for quantitation of ferulic acid in plant materials. Thus the degree to which hydroxycinnamic acids are involved in the lignification of forages may be significantly underestimated.
Tallgrass prairies provide an important source of hay and summer forage in eastern Nebraska. A study was conducted in 1989 and 1990 on 2 late seral tallgrass prairies near Lincoln and Virginia, Nebraska to determine if production of selected compo- nents of tallgrass prairie communities could be altered by burn- ing (not burned, or burned in either early, mid-, or late spring) and applying fertilizer (0 and 67-23 kg N-P ha-') and atrazine (6- chloro-N-ethyl-N'-(l-methylethyl)-l,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine) (0 and 2.2 kg a.i. ha.'). Vegetation was harvested the year treat- ments were applied at about 30-day intervals starting in June and ending in August. Maximum big bluestem (Andropogon ger- ardii var. gerardii Vitman) accumulated standing crop (ASC) on unburned areas and areas burned in mid-spring occurred later in 1990 than in 1989. Burning in late spring 1989 maintained big bluestem ASC above 1,100 kg ha.' through July, whereas big bluestem ASC declined below 840 kg ha.' in July on areas where other burn treatments were applied. In 1990, big bluestem ASC exceeded 1,570 kg ha.' in June on areas burned in early and mid- spring and exceeded 1,500 kg ha-' in July on areas that were not burned or burned in mid- or late spring. From July to August 1990 big bluestem ASC declined below 730 kg ha-' for all treat- ments except the late spring burn treatment where ASC was 1,340 kg ha". Burning in late spring reduced prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis (A. Gray) A. Gray) and tall dropseed (S. asper (Michx.) Kunth.) ASC by at least 67% in June 1990 com- pared to areas burned in early and mid-spring. Cool-season grass ASC at Virginia declined 86% in June when burned in late spring compared to areas that were not burned. Fertilization increased big bluestem ASC by about 23 and 29% in June and July. Vegetation response to atrazine was variable. Atrazine had a negligible effect on big bluestem ASC. Burning late seral tall- grass prairie in late spring increased big bluestem ASC later in the growing season and decreased cool-season grasses more effec- tively than burning earlier in the spring.
Studies of lignin structure and composition performed in many different laboratories are examined from both a chemical and a biological perspective. Plant enzymes with possible involvement in the extracellular polymerization of the monolignol precursors of lignin are reviewed, and deficits in our understanding of how these enzymes function in lignin biosynthesis are discussed. Some of the roles plant tissue culture, enzyme inhibitors, and genetic engineering will play in illuminating our perception of lignin are considered. Possible strategies targeting lignin biosynthetic enzymes for the purpose of modifying lignin structure and composition are discussed.
The cell wall represents one of the most characteristic features of plant cells. Its occurrence around the protoplasts accounts for a great difference between plant cells and animal cells, the latter being considered as “naked cells” limited only by the plasmalemma and its sugar-rich coat, the glycocalyx. In plants, the thick wall enclosing the cells can be seen in two different ways that, at first sight, may appear antinomic. On the one hand, the wall is an essentially rigid formation, a skeleton responsible for the shape of the cell and for the strength of the plant. On the other hand, the wall must be plastic and extensible so that a surface increase during extension may occur.
Brown-midrib (bmr) mutants differing in quality and quantity of lignin from normal genotypes offer an opportunity to increase the overall digestion of plant fiber. It is a simple recessive trait that phenotypically produces a reddish-brown pigmentation associated with lignified tissues. Several different genes have been identified in both maize and sorghum, which produce the characteristic bmr phenotype. Lignin concentrations in bmr genotypes are consistently lower than their normal counterparts. Besides differences between bmr and normal alkali-labile phenolics, the nitrobenzene oxidation of the two lignins yields different ratios of products. In vitro digestibility of bmr genotypes has been consistently higher than normal, but in vitro rate of digestion does not appear to be consistently affected by the mutation. Animal performance on bmr forage has not always produced better results than with normal genotypes but the tendency is for improved animal performance with bmr genotypes. Activities of several enzymes involved in lignification differed between bmr and normal genotypes. Differences in activities are not consistent across species, indicating that several different modifications of the lignifications pathway may result in a similar phenotypic bmr response. This chapter concludes that bmr provide an excellent system for examining and possibly modifying the lignifications process in plants.
Polysaccharides entering the rumen can be considered as belonging to one of two general types: plant storage polysaccharides such as starch and the fructosans, or the structural polysaccharides which compose the greater part of all plant cell walls and which are loosely considered to form the fibrous component of animal feedstuffs. Additional, but limited, amounts of polymerized carbohydrate may also be ingested by the animal in the form of lower molecular weight oligosaccharides, as the sugar moiety of various glycoconjugates and as a component of animal and fish byproducts.
Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is an important constituent of many permanent pastures in the northern United States and is an important source of livestock feed, but there is a paucity of information on its forage quality. The objective of this research was to assess changes with maturity in forage quality of whole herbage, leaves, and stems of Kentucky bluegrass compared with other important cool-season forage grasses. Kentucky bluegrass, orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinaceae L.), smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss), timothy (Phleum pratense L.), and tall rescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb) were sampled weekly beginning in mid-May until each species reached milk stage. Kentucky bluegrass had the highest or was among the grasses with the highest average leaf percentage, and leaf, stem, and whole herbage neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) concentrations; and lowest average whole herbage, leaf, and stem in vitro digestible dry matter (IVDDM) concentrations compared with tall growing species. Kentucky bluegrass also had the slowest rates of change in leaf and stem concentration and in whole herbage IVDDM and NDF concentrations with maturity. Leaf concentration was negatively correlated with herbage NDF and ADL concentration, but was not correlated with herbage IVDDM and CP concentration. Relative to tall growing cool season grasses, Kentucky bluegrass is leafier, but it has poorer forage digestibility.
Feed costs represent nearly two-thirds of the total cost of raising beef feeder cattle in the Great Plains and West. Harvested forage from wild meadows is an important input to such operations, especially in the northern and central Great Plains and inter-mountain West. Feed costs can be reduced if cattle producers manage their hay production by adjusting harvest date and N-fertilization to achieve the optimal tradeoff between quality and quantity. This requires that the producer knows the feeding value of different quality hay. However, market prices for wild hay seldom reflect quality and methods for valuing quality are not well established. We develop a method and derive an equation that measures the value of quality. This equation calculates the per pound cost savings (i.e., benefit) of feeding bay of improved quality, given production costs and prices of feed substitutes. The cost savings ('price premium') equation is incorporated into a continuous model for maximizing the net value (NV) of hay through the choice of N-fertilizer level and harvest date. The model is applied to agronomic data from research conducted on a sedge-dominated, wet meadow site in the Nebraska Sandhills. The agronomic data included crop yield, crude protein (CP), and total digestible nutrients for four N-fertilizer levels and three first cutting harvest dates. The analysis shows that quality and quantity management of hay can yield NVs that are 23 to 38%/acre higher than when only quantity is considered. Optimal harvest dates are 9 to 20 d earlier than the normal start date of harvest (5 July) in the Nebraska Sandhills. Optimal N-fertilizer quantity is increased by valuing quality. However, our analysis also indicates that when there is concern about nitrates leaching to groundwater, N can be reduced by over 25 lb/acre with less than a $1/acre loss in NV. The study shows that valuing quality has an important effect on economically optimal harvest dates and fertilizer levels. In addition, it demonstrates that knowing how to produce higher quality forage will help cow/calf producers reduce costs.
Increased fertilizer N rates in combination with reduced levels of atmospheric S raise the potential for needing S in a fertilizer program for corn (Zea mays L.) production in southeast Minnesota. Sulfur fertilization has been shown to improve the quality of some forage crops, but there has been only limited research to measure effects of S fertilization on corn silage quality. This study was conducted to: (i) measure the yield response of corn grown on silt loam soils with a low organic matter content to S fertilization and compare this response to that of corn grown on sandy soils known to be S deficient, and (ii) measure the influence of applied S on feeding value of corn silage. Research was conducted from 1984 through 1987 at 10 sites where four rates of S (0, 10, 20, 40 lb/acre) and four rates of N (0, 75, 150, 225 lb/acre) were combined in a complete factorial with four replications. The rates of S (supplied as CaSO4) and N (supplied as urea) were broadcast and incorporated before planting. Sulfur application increased grain yield at all sandy sites and at two of eight sites with a silt loam texture. In general, a rate of 10 lb S/acre was adequate for highest yield. Sulfur fertilization had no significant effect on the dry matter produced at any site. There was no N × S interaction for either dry matter or grain yield. Crude protein (CP) concentration of the corn silage was increased by N application but not S. Neither N nor S had a consistent effect on percentages of acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in the corn silage. These results show that decisions regarding a need for fertilizer S should be based on potential for improved corn yield. There appears to be no benefit for using fertilizer S to improve silage quality.
Please view the pdf by using the Full Text (PDF) link under 'View' to the left. Copyright © 1990. . Copyright © 1990 by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
The objective of the study was to evaluate the different methods of quality prediction in lucerne before harvesting as represented by crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD). Quality characters were determined on samples taken from 8 regrowths for periods from 21 March to 8 October 1990 at an age of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks. The relationships between CP, NDF, ADF, ADL, IVDMD and forage age in days, mean morphological stage by weight (MSW), sum of growing temperatures with a base of 5°C (TS5) and light sums (LS) were studied. A verification of MSW equations calibrated for the USA was performed for Bulgaria. TS5 and MSW best predicted CP, NDF, ADF, ADL, and IVDMD. The coefficients of determination (R2) were 0.88 to 0.92 and 0.75 to 0.87 respectively. The testing of MSW models calibrated by American authors for the USA conditions with data from this study confirmed the validity of relationships between MSW and forage quality. It was concluded that TS5 and MSW are reliable predictors of lucerne herbage quality before harvesting.
The purpose of research on metals (M) deposited onto self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is to understand the interactions between metal (M) and eventually metal oxide overlayers on well-ordered organic substrates. Application of M/SAM and inorganic/SAM research results to the understanding of real inorganic/organic interfaces in vacuum and under environmental conditions can potentially play a key role in the development of advanced devices with stable interfacial properties. The M/SAM approach to interface research is delineated as a new subfield in surface science in the context of other approaches to inorganic/organic interface research. Current issues in M/SAM research are outlined, including chemical compound formation, the morphology (spreading, clustering, or penetration) of the metal species, the kinetics of the metal morphology, the effect of the metal on the degree of order in the SAM, and the rate of metal penetration into the SAM. Probes are recommended that are suitable for M/SAM research. The results of M/SAM studies to date are reviewed, and M/SAM combinations are ranked according to reactivity and penetration. Key probes for addressing gaps in the research results are identified. The effects of defects, disordering, air exposure, and X-ray and electron beam exposure on the experimental results to date are evaluated. Thus far, the results have successfully revealed qualitative relationships of M/SAM chemistry, temperature, and penetration. The chemical interactions that have been found are applicable to real M/polymer interfaces as formed in vacuum. It has yet to be shown that M/SAM research will yield quantitative understanding of interface formation or that M/SAM interfaces are entirely analogous to M/polymer interfaces in the details of interface formation. The future of this subfield of surface science lies in its expansion from M/SAM interfaces in vacuum to other inorganic/SAM interfaces in vacuum and, eventually, under environmental conditions.
In two total collection digestion experiments and two milk production experiments feed!ng value of brown midrib sorghum silage (brm 12) was compared with corn silage. Normal sorghum (N12) also was included in the first digestion experiment. Heifers con- sumed more dry matter from brown midrib sorghum (2.64 versus 1.83 and 2.00 versus 1.68 kg/lO0 kg body weight) than from corn silage for the digestion experiments. No differences were signifi- cant for dry matter digestibility between the two silages in either experiment. Protein digestion for corn silage exceeded that for brown midrib sorghum in Ex- periment 1 (38.3 versus 31.3%); however, this was reversed in Experiment 2 (31.0 versus 41.2%). In Experiment 1, dry matter digestibility (53.3 versus 61.4%) was lowered for normal sorghum com- pared to corn silage. A 24% (4.4 versus "5.8%) reduction of lignin was obtained from brown midrib sorghum to normal sorghum. The lignin percentage of brown midrib sorghum and corn silages were relatively close in all experiments. No differences were significant for actual milk production, fat-corrected milk production, milk fat percent, protein percent, or flavor scores of milk produced by cows fed corn and brown midrib silages in either milk production experiment.
Objectives were to evaluate the nutritive value of alfalfa treated with N. Alfalfa germplasms, Turkistan and Flemish, were grown in three growth chambers with N supplied at 0, 3, 5, and 10 mM N as ammonium nitrate. Alfalfa regrowth was harvested after 34 d. Digestibility, NDF, ADF, and permanganate lignin did not differ among rates of N application or between germplasms. Ammonia and pH of fluid from ruminal incubations also did not differ. Concentration of N of alfalfa increased as rate of N application increased. Nitrate N concentration increased from .17 ± .03% for the rate at 0 mM N to .75 ± .06% for the rate at 10 mM N. Gas production decreased from 19.4 d 100 mg of forage with the rate at 0 mM N to 12.3 ml/100 mg of forage with the rate at 10 mM N. Gas production was correlated with N concentration (r = –.72) and with nitrate concentration (r = –.82). Ruminal microorganisms incubated with alfalfa treated with 10 mM N produced 21% less total VFA and less propionic acid than microorganisms incubated with alfalfa treated with 0 mM N. Nitrate added to untreated alfalfa reduced gas production similarly to treated alfalfa and also had no effect on digestibility. Application of high concentrations of N to alfalfa can lower energy available to ruminants.
Forage digestibility is influenced by plant cell wall composition. We compared changes in cell wall composition of the herbage and plant fractions of four clovers differing in life cycle and growth habit and examined the relationship between digestibility and cell wall composition in these plant fractions. Primary spring growth of berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), red (T. pratense L.), subterranean (T. subterraneum L.), and white (T. repens L.) clover was harvested in each of 2 yr beginning in late March and thereafter every 10 d (eight harvests total). Cell wall, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin concentration were determined for leaf, petiole, stem, and reproductive fractions and herbage at each harvest. Herbage cell wall concentration of berseem, red, and white clover increased 3.1, 2.4, and 0.8 g kg −1 d −1 , respectively [...]
Grain yield and quality of vegetative material form sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] are affected by carbohydrate and lignin partitioning within the plant and translocation of nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) to the kernels. This field study was conducted during two growing seasons to determine concentrations of NSC, hemicellulose (HC), cellulose, and lignin in four sorghum hybrids at seven growth stage from panicle differentiation through 45 days post anthesis (DPA) of plants (.)
Structural carbohydrates of forages are not completely digestible by ruminants. The nature of the limitation and interrelationships among digestibility of structural carbohydrates are poorly understood. This field study was conducted to determine digestion kinetics of cell-wall carbohydrates to better understand these interrelationships. Leaves and stems of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.), and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) were sampled in late May, and stems were again sampled 6 wk later. Plant samples were incubated in buffered rumen fluid for 0, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h, and digestion kinetics were determined for neutral-detergent fiber (NDF) and cell-wall carbohydrates. Potentially digestible cellulose as a proportion of total cellulose decreased to a greater extent with age in grass (53%) than in legume (22%) stems. Hemicellulose often was more digestible than cellulose. However, cell-wall glucose, the principal component of cellulose, was more digestible than xylose, the principal component of hemicellulose. Conversely, the remaining neutral sugars associated with hemicellulose generally were more digestible than glucose. Xylose had the lowest digestibility of the neutral sugars, which was as low as 17% in legume stems. Arabinose digestibility was >60%, even in highly lignified stems, suggesting that not more than a small portion is bonded to lignin. Across plant parts, a close relationship existed between glucose and xylose digestibilities with coefficients of determination of 0.94, suggesting that they may mutually limit each other's digestibility. With stem aging of grass, NDF rate of digestion was reduced from 0.076 to 0.042 h⁻¹ by a decrease in hemicellulose rate of digestion from 0.146 to 0.060 h⁻¹.
The negative correlation between lignification fo forage plant cell walls and digestibility has been confounded with growth stage, plant age, or comparison across species. Growth environment was manipulated to alter cell-wall development in forages to produce experimental materials of the same age for the study of cell-wall composition effects on digestibitlity of fiber
Esterified phenolics of noncore lignin and core lignin concentration and composition are correlated with forage digestibility. In this study, divergent smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.) genotypes selected for high or low in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) were evaluated for genotypic variation of lignin concentration and composition. Primary growth of nine genotypes from each IVDMD selection group was harvested during 2 yrs and separated into leaf blade and stem plus sheath fractions. Detergent fiber components, core lignin concentration and composition, and esterified noncore lignin content were determined
Digestion of plant cell walls (CW) in the rumen is determined in part by digestion kinetics. Stem samples were digested in rumen fluid, and data were fitted with a first-order non-linear model to estimate potentially digestible (CW (PDCW), indigestible residue (IR), digestion rate of PDCW, and digestion lag. The IR concentration was positively related by stepwise regression to total nitrobenzene oxidation products (NBO) of core lignin, lignin concentration, p-coumaric acid concentration
