Influence of Addition of Fibrolytic Bacterial Culture on In Vitro Degradability of Wheat Straw, Methanogenesis and Fermentation Metabolites in Buffalo

This study was undertaken to see the effects of ruminal fibrolytic bacterial enrichment culture inoculants on fermentation characteristics of wheat straw with buffalo rumen liquor using an in vitro gas production technique. Four days old culture was added @ 1 ml (FBC₁) and 2 ml (FBC₂) to in vitro media incubated with wheat straw as substrate in 100 ml glass syringes at 39°C for 24 h. Inclusion of fibrolytic bacterial culture (FBC₂) significantly (P<0.01) increased DM and NDF digestibility and microbial biomass production. However, gas production and NH₃-N remained unaltered in response to fibrolytic bacterial culture addition. Acetate, propionate and total VFA production increased in FBC₂ treatment. Methane production remained unaffected irrespective of dose of culture. Addition of ruminal fibrolytic bacterial enrichment culture improved in vitro rumen fermentation parameters suggesting that fibrolytic bacterial culture could be used as microbial feed additive in buffaloes to improve the digestibility of fibrous diets.