Effects of Italian ryegrass silage supplementation on feed intake and behavior of pregnant sows.

This study aimed to assess the behavior and stress status of pregnant sows following supplementation with Italian ryegrass silage (IRS) and the impact of feeding the IRS on feeding costs. Six sows with an initial body weight (BW) of 238.6 ± 5.9 kg were allotted to a 6 × 3 Latin square design with a 5-day acclimatization period followed by a 5-day data collection period. A commercial diet was replaced by IRS on a dry matter (DM) basis up to 0%, 9%, and 13% in the control treatment and the two test treatments, respectively. Apart from collecting data on daily feed intake and BW, urine was collected, and video footage was recorded for the last day of each treatment for analysis of urinary cortisol and behavior. There were no leftovers with all diets and nutrient uptake was unaffected (p > 0.05), while BW gain decreased (p < 0.05) to be a limited range from 1% to 3%, with increased inclusion of IRS. Both the behavior of sows and cortisol concentration were unaffected (p > 0.05). Furthermore, it was estimated that feeding 13% DM of IRS would reduce feed costs by 17%. IRS would be acceptable in replacing up to 13% of the commercial diet and cutting feeding costs.

Effect of feeding Bacillus subtilis on rumen fermentation, blood metabolites, nutrient digestibility, and energy and nitrogen balances in non-lactating crossbred cows.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of feeding Bacillus subtilis on rumen fermentation, blood metabolites, nutrient digestibility, and energy and nitrogen balances in non-lactating crossbred (Holstein-Friesian × Bos indicus) cows. Four cows were assigned to the control and B. subtilis diets in a crossover design, and respiratory and metabolic experiments were conducted. For the B. subtilis diet, B. subtilis DSM15544 spores were added at the rate of 1.0 × 1010  CFU/head/day to the control diet. At 4 hr after feeding, cows fed the B. subtilis diet had increased levels of i-butyric acid in the rumen fluid and tended to have lower concentrations of plasma non-esterified fatty acids when compared with cows fed the control diet. This suggests that feeding B. subtilis could improve energy efficiency. However, there was no effect on energy retention in this study. Although there were no effects on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, or methane production, heat production was significantly higher in cows fed the B. subtilis diet than in those fed the control diet.

Brewer's yeast efficiently degrades phytate phosphorus in a corn-soybean meal diet during soaking treatment.

Microbes such as yeast and Aspergillus are known to produce phytase, and Aspergillus phytase has been used as a feed additive for improving phytate-phosphorus bioavailability in monogastric animals. We measured phytase activity in some by-products from fermented food and beverage productions by yeast and Aspergillus. The phytase activity was as high as 3577 and 2225 PU/kg DM in raw and dried brewer's yeasts, respectively. On the other hand, the phytase activity was approximately 400 PU/kg DM in white-wine yeast and red-wine yeast. The phytase activity was further low in natto (fermented soybean) residue, soy sauce cake, rice brewer's grain and the activity was not detected in dried corn-barley distiller's grain with soluble and sweet-potato distiller's residue. The stability of phytase against pepsin was much lower in the brewer's yeast than in an Aspergillus phytase preparation. On the other hand, the addition of raw brewer's yeast effectively degraded phytate phosphorus in a corn-soybean meal diet during soaking. These results suggest that phytase in the examined by-products is not suitable for the phytase source of conventional diets, but that the soaking treatment with a raw brewer's yeast is an alternative method for improving phytate-phosphorus bioavailability in corn-soybean meal diets for pigs.