Essential oils as rumen fermentation modifier for enteric methane mitigation in ruminants

• Autor(a) principal: Roberta Ferreira Carvalho
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.11606/T.10.2019.tde-23112018-095349

The search for natural products which can increase animal productivity and reduce environmental impact has been intensified. Some plant extracts, such as essential oils, are used as feed additives able of improving ruminal fermentation by modulating the production of short chain fatty acids and inhibiting methanogenesis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the production of enteric and feces methane, as well as feeding behaviour, ruminal fermentation and kinetics of dairy and beef cattle fed with different essential oils. Eight non-pregnant, non-lactating and ruminally canullated cows were used: four were the dairy breed Holstein, and four were the beef breed Nellore. The diet was composed of 70% of roughage (corn silage) and 30% of concentrate (corn grain and soybean meal), the treatments differed only in relation to the essential oil added: CNT, a diet without any additive; EEO, a diet with 500 mg/kg of DM of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus citriodora) essential oil; PEO, a diet with 500 mg/kg of DM of Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi) essential oil, and LEO, a diet with 500 mg/kg of DM of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf) essential oil. The experimental design was the 4x4 contemporary latin square in a 2x4 factorial arrangement (referring to two specialized cattle breeds and four additives). The evaluation of the CH4 production of the manure was performed through experimental batch anaerobic digesters, in a completely randomized design. The beef cattle had lower DMI (P = 0.0413), they spent more time consuming, ruminating or chewing 1 kg of DM or NDF (min/kg), also had higher values for acetate, butyrate or total SCFA production than dairy cattle. The manure from dairy cattle had higher biogas production (L/gVS add) or CO2 (liters, percentage and L/gVS add) than the manure of beef cattle. The treatments with essential oils had on average 23% more rumination events per day than the control treatment (P = 0.0201). Diet containing essential oils decreased N2O production of feces from dairy cattle. The essential oils in the dosage used did not affect rumen fermentation and kinetics, as well as the emission of enteric methane and feces.