In vitro methane emission and acetate/propionate ratio are decreased when artificial stimulation of the rumen wall is combined with increasing grain diets in sheep

¹ University of Western Australia, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Crawley, WA. 6009, Australia; CSIRO Livestock Industries, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA. 6913, Australia
² CSIRO Livestock Industries, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA. 6913, Australia
³ University of Western Australia, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Crawley, WA. 6009, Australia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: c.christophersen{at}csiro.au.

	Abstract

The interaction of retention time in the rumen and concentrate diet on methane production in vitro and acetate/propionate ratio was examined. Twenty-four fistulated sheep were used in a complete factorial design with the sheep randomly divided into 4 groups. The sheep had a 5-wk acclimatization period on an oaten-chaff diet, followed by two 3-wk diet phases. Two of the 4 groups were maintained on the oaten-chaff diet for the duration of the experiment with pot scrubbers added to the rumen of 1 of the 2 groups. The remaining 2 groups were offered a low grain diet (35% grain) in the first diet phase followed by a high grain diet (70% grain) in the second diet phase. Pot scrubbers were also added to the rumen of 1 of these 2 groups of grain-fed sheep. Pot scrubbers in combination with a low grain diet decreased the amount of methane produced in vitro from 4.25 to 3.71 mmol/mL digesta when compared to oaten-chaff-fed sheep without pot scrubbers (P < 0.05). The acetate/propionate ratio was 1.6 in sheep fed a high grain diet with pot scrubbers compared to 2.4 in sheep fed a high grain diet without pot scrubbers in their rumen (P < 0.05). At high levels of grain, when employing a multivariate statistical analysis including all data, sheep given the combined treatment of grain and pot scrubbers were different from all other sheep groups in this experiment (P < 0.05). Furthermore, sheep fed a high grain diet were different from sheep receiving the oaten-chaff diets with and without pot scrubbers (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). In conclusion, pot scrubbers combined with grain alter the rumen fermentation, and introducing pot scrubbers into the rumens of livestock consuming low levels of grain may be a way to lower methane emissions.

Key Words: acetate/propionate ratio, methane, methanogens, pH, sheep, VFA