Feeding Damascus goats humic or fulvic acid alone or in combination: in vitro and in vivo investigations on impacts on feed intake, ruminal fermentation parameters, and apparent nutrients digestibility.

In vitro and in vivo experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of the supplementation of different levels of humic and fulvic acids alone or their combination (2:1 ratio) on ruminal fermentation constituents, and nutrients digestibility in goats. The treatments in Exp. 1 were the following: (1) basal substrate (50% concentrate: 50% forage) was incubated humic at 0, 2, 4, and 6 g/kg DM; (2) fulvic at 0, 1, 2, and 3 g/kg DM; and (3) a combination of humic and fulvic (in a 2:1 ratio) at 0, 3, 6, and 9 g/kg DM" of treatments. The results of Exp. 1 revealed that methane (CH4) production was linearly decreased (P < 0.001) upon increasing humic doses. Whereas, the combination of fulvic acid with humic acid resulted in a quadratic decrease (P < 0.001) in net CH4 production. Supplementing humic and fulvic acids, either separately or in combination, resulted in reduced (P < 0.05) ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations. In Exp. 2 to further examine the findings obtained in Exp. 1, forty Damascus non-lactating goats (2-3 years of age and body weight 29 ± 1.5 kg) were fed the same basal diet as in Exp. 1, plus one of four treatments. Treatments were the following: (1) control (no supplement); (2) basal diet plus 5 g humic alone; (3) basal diet plus 2.5 g fulvic alone, and (4) basal diet plus 7.5 g their combination. Goats fed diets supplemented with humic acid, fulvic acid, either alone or in combination, increased concentrations of butyrate (P = 0.003), total VFA (P < 0.001), and improved (P < 0.001) digestibility of nutrients, but reduced (P < 0.001) ruminal NH3-N concentrations. In conclusion, applying humic and fulvic acids alone or in combination attenuated in vitro CH4 production, while improved intake and diet digestibility without adverse effect on rumen fermentation profiles in Damascus goats.

Potential of montmorillonite modified by an organosulfur surfactant for reducing aflatoxin B1 toxicity and ruminal methanogenesis in vitro.

BACKGROUND: Montmorillonite clay modified by organosulfur surfactants possesses high cation exchange capacity (CEC) and adsorption capacity than their unmodified form (UM), therefore they may elevate the adverse impact of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on ruminal fermentation and methanogenesis. Chemical and mechanical modifications were used to innovate the organically modified nano montmorillonite (MNM). The UM was modified using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and grounded to obtain the nanoscale particle size form. The dose-response effects of the MNM supplementation to a basal diet contaminated or not with AFB1 (20 ppb) were evaluated in vitro using the gas production (GP) system. The following treatments were tested: control (basal diet without supplementations), UM diet [UM supplemented at 5000 mg /kg dry matter (DM)], and MNM diets at low (500 mg/ kg DM) and high doses (1000 mg/ kg DM). RESULTS: Results of the Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy analysis showed shifts of bands of the OH-group occurred from lower frequencies to higher frequencies in MNM, also an extra band at the lower frequency range only appeared in MNM compared to UM. Increasing the dose of the MNM resulted in linear and quadratic decreasing effects (P < 0.05) on GP and pH values. Diets supplemented with the low dose of MNM either with or without AFB1 supplementation resulted in lower (P = 0.015) methane (CH4) production, ruminal pH (P = 0.002), and ammonia concentration (P = 0.002) compared to the control with AFB1. Neither the treatments nor the AFB1 addition affected the organic matter or natural detergent fiber degradability. Contamination of AFB1 reduced (P = 0.032) CH4 production, while increased (P < 0.05) the ruminal pH and ammonia concentrations. Quadratic increases (P = 0.012) in total short-chain fatty acids and propionate by MNM supplementations were observed. CONCLUSION: These results highlighted the positive effects of MNM on reducing the adverse effects of AFB1 contaminated diets with a recommended dose of 500 mg/ kg DM under the conditions of this study.

Effect of Dietary Rosemary and Ginger Essential Oils on the Growth Performance, Feed Utilization, Meat Nutritive Value, Blood Biochemicals, and Redox Status of Growing NZW Rabbits.

This study was conducted to assess the impacts of using two essential oils, rosemary and ginger, on growing rabbits' performance, carcass traits, meat composition, blood biochemicals, and the redox status of growing New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. A total of 120 unsexed NZW rabbits, 42-days-old, were assigned randomly to five experimental groups (n = 24, 6 replicates with 4 rabbits each). The first group received a basal diet (control), the second to fifth groups were dietary supplemented daily with rosemary essential oil (REO) and ginger essential oil (GEO) at doses of 0.25 and 0.5% for each supplementation (REO-0.25, REO-0.5, GEO-0.25, and GEO-0.5), respectively. The growth traits were studied for 7 weeks, from the 7th to the 13th week of the rabbits' age. The results revealed that final body weight, weight gain, and average daily gain increased significantly (p < 0.01) in the REO-0.5 and GEO-0.5 treatments compared to the control group. Daily feed intake decreased (p = 0.005) in essential oil treatments. Meanwhile, the feed conversion ratio improved significantly (p = 0.001) in REO and GEO at the high doses compared to the control group. The weight percentages of liver and giblets increased (p < 0.001) with both treatments of REO and GEO compared to the control group. The dietary supplementation with REO and GEO did not affect (p > 0.05) the meat composition of Longissimus dorsi and hind leg muscles. Meanwhile, REO and GEO supplementation significantly decreased cholesterol levels in the rabbit meat. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance concentrations decreased by 10 and 15% in the meat of REO-0.5 and GEO-0.5 treatments, respectively, compared to the other groups. In the same trend, REO and GEO treatments induced a significant (p = 0.001) reduction in the plasma cholesterol concentrations and triglycerides compared to the control. The total antioxidant capacity increased by 7.60% and the malondialdehyde decreased by 11.64% in the plasma of GEO-0.5 treatment than the control. Thus, the dietary supplementation of REO and GEO have a beneficial effect in improving the productivity and meat quality of growing rabbits.