Mitigation of ruminal methane production with enhancing the fermentation by supplementation of different tropical forage legumes

The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of forage species adapted to the tropical region of Ecuador on gas production, enteric methane, digestion, and ruminal fermentation. The tree forage evaluated were C. arborea, E. fusca, B. forficata, E. poeppigiana, C. argentea, G. sepium, C. tora, and F. macrophylla. Ruminal fluid of four adult sheep fistulated with permanent cannulas in the rumen was used in the in vitro gas production technique. The in vitro gas production parameters were lower (P < 0.05) in the C. arborea (A = 41.68 mL gas/g DM, c = 0.044%/h and Lag = 1.654 h) and the average gas production rate for B. forficata was 1.017 mL/h (P < 0.05). C. arborea presented higher (P = 0.0001) effective degradation and real DM digestibility (40.461 g/kg and 82.51 mg/g, respectively). With respect to VFA, the highest (P < 0.05) proportion of acetic, propionic, and butyric was observed in C. arborea, G. sepium, and E. poeppigiana (72.52, 23.09, and 7.44 mol/100 mol, respectively) and the lowest (P = 0.0001) ratio: acetic/propionic was observed in G. sepium (2.92 mol/100 mol). The content of NH3-N (mg/L) showed no difference. The lowest (P = 0.0001) methane production was observed in C. arborea (1.23 mL CH4/g DM). The use of forage species of tropical climate rich in secondary metabolites in ruminant diets has the capacity to reduce the gas production and enteric methane; however, this is at the expense of the reduction of the fermentation of organic matter in the rumen.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the influence of forage species adapted to the tropical region of Ecuador on gas production, digestion, ruminal fermentation, and enteric methane. Certain forage species were found to reduce enteric methane production, but also potentially decrease organic matter fermentation in the rumen.