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The use of cumulative gas production technique to characterize changes in the fermentation characteristics of rumen contents following variable periods of starvation and grazing in dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

P. Chilibrostet ,
B. A. Williams ,
S. Tamminga  and
S. Calabro
P. Chilibrostet
Affiliation:
Wageningen Institute of Animal Science, Animal Nutrition Group, Marijkeweg 40, 6709 PG, Wageningen, The Netherlands
B. A. Williams
Affiliation:
Wageningen Institute of Animal Science, Animal Nutrition Group, Marijkeweg 40, 6709 PG, Wageningen, The Netherlands
S. Tamminga
Affiliation:
Wageningen Institute of Animal Science, Animal Nutrition Group, Marijkeweg 40, 6709 PG, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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Abstract

The effect of the duration of grazing (experiment 1) and starvation time and placement in the rumen of inert bulk material before grazing (experiment 2), on the rumen content ferment ability, was investigated by means of measuring cumulative gas production. In experiment 1, a comparison was made of four durations of grazing (1, 1·75, 2·50 and 3·25 h) after overnight starvation. Rumen samples taken from the cows after 1 h of grazing had higher values of total accumulated gas with less (P < 0·05) time required to reach the maximum fermentation rate than cows grazed for 3·25 h. Following grazing, a 7·75·h starvation period was imposed on the four treatments. The extent of fermentation was significantly lower (P < 0·01) after starvation than immediately after grazing (49·7 v. 60·8% of incubated dry matter (DM), respectively). Experiment 2 consisted of a factorial combination of two durations of starvation before grazing (16·5 (LS) and 2·5 (SS) h) with the presence or absence in the rumen of 12·5 kg of a synthetic indigestible material. Before grazing the total accumulated gas production was less (P < 0·05) for the LS than for the SS cows. After the grazing session, the total gas of rumen samples from the LS cows was significantly higher (P < 0·05) than for the SS cows.

This was in agreement with the observed higher DM intake during grazing and DM rumen pools after grazing in LS cows. For both starvation periods, the presence of inert rumen bulk led to a higher total gas, a shorter half-time and less DM left unfermented. The measurement of fermentation kinetics by cumulative gas production was suitable to detect changes in rumen content fermentation patterns due to the clearance of material from the rumen (effect of starvation) or DM intake during the grazing sessions.

Keywords

cattlegas productiongrazingrumen fermentationstarvation.
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , December 1999 , pp. 647 - 655
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

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