1Departamento de Producción Animal. Universidad de León. 24071, León, Spain
2Departamento de Producción Animal, E.T.S.I. Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain
3International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria
4Instituto de Ganadería de Montaña (CSIC-ULE), Finca Marzanas s/n. 24346 Grulleros, León, Spain
Departamento de Producción Animal, Universidad de León, 24071, León, Spain
*Corresponding author: mjrang@unileon.es
#This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Exogenous Enzymes in Animal Nutrition - Benefits and Limitations, Guest Edited by A.Z.M. Salem and N. Odongo, and Editor for Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, A.K. Pattanaik
The aim of this work was to assess the effects of four doses of three commercial fibrolytic enzymes on ruminal fermentation of rice straw, maize stover and Pennisetum purpureum clon Cuba CT115 hay in batch cultures of ruminal micro-organisms from sheep. One enzyme was produced by Penicillium funiculosum (PEN) and two were from Trichoderma longibrachiatum (TL1 and TL2). Each liquid enzyme was diluted 200 (D1), 100 (D2), 50 (D3) and 10 (D4) - fold and applied to each substrate in quadruplicate over time and incubated for 120 h in rumen fluid. The D4 dose of each enzyme increased (P<0.05) the fractional rate of gas production and organic matter effective degradability for all substrates, and TL2 had similar effects when applied at D3. In 9 h incubations, PEN at D4, TL1 at all tested doses, and TL2 at D2, D3 and D4 increased (P<0.05) volatile fatty acid production and dry matter degradability for all substrates. The commercial enzymes tested were effective at increasing in vitro ruminal fermentation of low-quality forages, although effective doses varied with the enzyme.
Fibrolytic enzymes, Low-quality forages, Rumen fermentation, Batch cultures
