Effect of wet distillers grains on ruminal fermentation, digestibility, microbial population in a dual-flow continuous culture system

• Grant number: 18/18165-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 31, 2018
• End date: April 29, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Mário de Beni Arrigoni
• Grantee: Laís de Aquino Tomaz
• Supervisor: Antonio Pinheiro Faciola
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Florida, Gainesville (UF), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/21354-6 - Wet distillers grains fed Nelore cattle: digestibility and ruminal parameters, BP.MS

Abstract

The objective of this study will be the evaluation of inclusion of Wet Distillers Grains (WDG) and its effects on fermentation and degradability of diets in the dual-flow continuous culture system. The experiment will be carried out in the Faciola's Lab at the Department of Animal Science, University of Florida, with eight fermenters (dual-flow continuous culture system); each fermenter unit will be randomly assigned to receive each diet once over the 4 periods in a replicate 4x4 Latin square design. Each 10-day period will comprise 7-day diet adaptation period followed by a 3-day sampling period. The experimental treatments will differ according to levels of WDG: T1: 0%; T2: 15%; T3: 30% and T4: 45% of inclusion DM. Each fermenter will be manually fed a total of 72 g DM/d of the diet that will be composed by ground corn, soybean meal and brome hay, equally divided in two meals per day. Rumen fluid will be collected approximately 2 h after morning feeding from two ruminally cannulated angus steers. Rumen fluid will be poured into each of the fermentation and during the last 3 days of each period, liquid and solid effluents from each fermenter will be combined and homogenized for measurement of pH at 0, 2,4,6,8 h after feeding. Then, samples will be stored for the ammonia nitrogen (N-NH3 ) and Vollatic Fatty Acids (VFA) analysis. At the end of each period, digesta effluent from the three sampling days will be composited by fermenter and freeze, for measurement of dry matter, ash, crude protein, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF), and for the estimation of degradability. At the same time to the sample collection for evaluation of the fermentation in the time 0, 2, 6, and 10 h after morning feeding, solid particles will collected from solid effluent containers of each fermenter. Liquid and solid samples will stored at -80°C for further DNA extraction. For the DNA extraction will used the Phenol-chloroform method. The 16S and 18S rRNA gene will amplified for identified the microbial population of cellulolytic and amylolytic bacterias in DNA. All statistical procedures will be carried out using SAS 9.4 for windows, with p d 0.05. (AU)