TY - JOUR
T1 - Rumen inoculum collected from cows at slaughter or from a continuous fermenter and preserved in warm, refrigerated, chilled or freeze-dried environments for in vitro tests
AU - Spanghero, Mauro
AU - Chiaravalli, Maria
AU - Colombini, Stefania
AU - Fabro, Carla
AU - Froldi, Federico
AU - Mason, Federico
AU - Moschini, Maurizio
AU - Sarnataro, Chiara
AU - Schiavon, Stefano
AU - Tagliapietra, Franco
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The utilization of animal donors of rumen fluid for laboratory experiments can raise ethical concerns, and alternatives to the collection of rumen fluids from live animals are urgently requested. The aim of this study was to compare the fresh rumen fluid (collected at slaughter, W) with that obtained from a continuous fermenter (RCF) and three methods of rumen fluid preservation (refrigeration, R, chilling, C, and freeze-drying, FD). The fermentability of different inoculum was evaluated by three in vitro tests (neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude protein (CP) degradability and gas production, NDFd, RDP and GP, respectively) using six feeds as substrates. Despite the two types of inoculum differed in terms of metabolites and microbiota concentration, the differences in vitro fermentability between the two liquids were less pronounced than expected (-15 and 20% for NDFd and GP when the liquid of fermenter was used and no differences for RDP).Within each in vitro test, the data obtained from rumen and from fermenter liquids were highly correlated for the six feeds, as well as betweenWand R (r: 0.837-0.985; p < 0.01). The low fermentative capacity was found for C and, particularly, FD for liquids. RCF could be used to generate inoculum for in vitro purposes and short-term refrigeration is a valuable practice to manage inoculum.
AB - The utilization of animal donors of rumen fluid for laboratory experiments can raise ethical concerns, and alternatives to the collection of rumen fluids from live animals are urgently requested. The aim of this study was to compare the fresh rumen fluid (collected at slaughter, W) with that obtained from a continuous fermenter (RCF) and three methods of rumen fluid preservation (refrigeration, R, chilling, C, and freeze-drying, FD). The fermentability of different inoculum was evaluated by three in vitro tests (neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude protein (CP) degradability and gas production, NDFd, RDP and GP, respectively) using six feeds as substrates. Despite the two types of inoculum differed in terms of metabolites and microbiota concentration, the differences in vitro fermentability between the two liquids were less pronounced than expected (-15 and 20% for NDFd and GP when the liquid of fermenter was used and no differences for RDP).Within each in vitro test, the data obtained from rumen and from fermenter liquids were highly correlated for the six feeds, as well as betweenWand R (r: 0.837-0.985; p < 0.01). The low fermentative capacity was found for C and, particularly, FD for liquids. RCF could be used to generate inoculum for in vitro purposes and short-term refrigeration is a valuable practice to manage inoculum.
KW - Gas production
KW - In vitro fermentation
KW - Rumen degradability
KW - Rumen liquid
KW - Gas production
KW - In vitro fermentation
KW - Rumen degradability
KW - Rumen liquid
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/146655
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/10/815/pdf
U2 - 10.3390/ani9100815
DO - 10.3390/ani9100815
M3 - Article
SN - 2076-2615
VL - 9
SP - 815
EP - 828
JO - Animals
JF - Animals
ER -