Comparison of the use of rumen fluid or dung as a source of microbial inoculum for the digestion of forages in vitro
1991
Manyuchi, B. | Rusike, E. | Chakoma, C. (Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Water Development, Marondera (Zimbabwe). Grasslands Research Station)
Twelve sheep each fitted with a rumen cannula were used in two experiments to compare the use of dung or rumen fluid as sources of microbes for the digestion of seven different forages in vitro. In experiment 1, the dung and rumen fluid were obtained from sheep grazing star grass (Cynodon aethiopicus) pastures. Dung gave consistently lower in vitro dry matter digestibility than rumen fluid but both inoculants ranked the seven forages samples in the same order. In experiment 2, the effect of diet food to donor animals on the in vitro digestibility of the seven forages determined using rumen fluid and dung inoculants was tested. The sheep were fed either milled star grass hay, a concentrate based diet (20 per cent roughage) in pens or they grazed the star grass pastures. The ranking of the forage samples was similar to that observed in experiment 1. When the rumen fluid inoculum was used, the concentrate-based diet gave the lowest digestibility values and there was no significant difference between hay and pasture diets. In the case of the dung inoculum, the concentrate diet gave the highest in vitro digestibility followed by hay, while pasture gave the lowest values. Although a significant inoculant x forage sample interaction was observed in both experiments, the functional relationship between in vitro values obtained using dung and rumen fluid was linear and highly significant. The results showed that although diet had a significant influence on digestibility, the in vitro system based on dung was able to distinguish differences in the digestibility of forages and can be used in place of rumen fluid
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