Effects of feeding oxidized fat with or without dietary antioxidants on nutrient digestibility, microbial nitrogen, and fatty acid metabolism

A dual-effluent continuous culture system was used to investigate, in a 2 x 2 factorial design, the effect of feeding a fresh (FF) or oxidized (OF) blend of unsaturated fats (33% fish oil, 33% corn oil, 26% soybean oil, and 7% inedible tallow) when supplemented with a blend of antioxidants (AO; Agrado Plus, Novus International Inc.; Agrado Plus is a trademark of Novus International Inc. and is registered in the United States and other countries) on nutrient digestibility, bacterial protein synthesis, and fatty acid metabolism. Twice a day for 10 d, 12 fermenters were fed a diet that consisted of 52% forage and 48% grain mixture that contained 3% (dry matter basis) FF or OF, with or without AO. The OF contained a higher concentration of peroxides (215 vs. 3.5 mEq/kg), and a lower concentration of unsaturated fatty acids than the FF. Feeding OF reduced nitrogen digestibility, microbial nitrogen yield, and efficiency (expressed as kilograms of dry matter digested) and increased the outflow of saturated fatty acids in the effluent when compared with feeding FF. Adding AO improved total carbohydrate, neutral, and acid detergent fiber digestibilities and the amount of digested feed nitrogen converted to microbial nitrogen across the types of fats. From this study, we concluded that feeding OF reduced microbial nitrogen and increased the outflow of saturated fatty acids. Feeding AO improved fiber digestibility by rumen microorganisms, regardless of the type of fat.