PROCESS FOR IMPROVING RUMINAL DEGRADATION OF WHEAT STRAW

Abstract

A process for improving wheat straw degradation in a ruminant, including a step of feeding the ruminant with the wheat straw, wherein the process is characterized in that it also includes a step of administering a prebiotic chosen from an autolysed yeast, a yeast extract, a yeast wall fraction or mixtures thereof, the administrating of the prebiotic being carried out before, after or simultaneously with the step of feeding the ruminant. Also, the use, in a ruminant, of a prebiotic chosen from an autolysed yeast, a yeast extract, a yeast wall fraction or mixtures thereof, before, after or during the feeding of the ruminant with wheat straw.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. A process for improving the degradation of wheat straw in a ruminant comprising a step of feeding the ruminant with wheat straw, said process being characterized in that it further comprises a step of administering a prebiotic selected from an autolyzed yeast, a yeast extract, a yeast cell wall fraction or mixtures thereof, and preferably a yeast extract.

11. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of administering the prebiotic is carried out before, after or simultaneously with feeding the ruminant with wheat straw, preferably simultaneously.

12. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the ruminant belongs to the Bovidae family.

13. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the prebiotic is administered at a dose between 2 and 20 g/head/day for large ruminants, namely bovines, and preferably a dose between 5 and 10 g/head/day.

14. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the prebiotic is administered at a dose between 0.5 and 5 g/head/day for small ruminants, namely sheep and goats, and preferably at a dose between 1 and 2 g/head/day.

15. The process as claimed in claim 10, wherein the prebiotic is in the form of powder.

16. A process for improving degradation of wheat straw in a ruminant, comprising administering a prebiotic selected from an autolyzed yeast, a yeast extract, a yeast cell wall fraction or mixtures thereof, before, after or simultaneously with feeding the ruminant with wheat straw, preferably simultaneously with feeding the ruminant.

17. The process as claimed in claim 16, wherein the prebiotic is administered at a dose between 2 and 20 g/head/day for large ruminants, namely bovines, and preferably at a dose between 5 and 10 g/head/day.

18. The process as claimed in claim 16, wherein the prebiotic is administered at a dose between 0.5 and 5 g/head/day for small ruminants, namely sheep and goats, and preferably at a dose between 1 and 2 g/head/day.

Description

FIGURE

[0055] FIG. 1: Effect of the prebiotic on the degradation of the dry matter of wheat straw (in percentage % disappearance/degradation of the dry matter of wheat straw).

EXAMPLES

Materials and Methods

[0056] 1. Preparation of the Fermentation Modules

[0057] The wheat straw is ground to a mesh of 2 cm (Electra) and then the fines are removed using a 1.18 mm sieve (Penn State Separator).

[0058] Fractions of 3 g are then weighed in triplicate and placed in bottles equipped with a pressure measuring module (Ankom Technology).

[0059] 2. Prebiotic

[0060] In order to recreate the in vivo conditions of the co-administration of wheat straw and of the prebiotic according to the process of the invention, the prebiotic is added to the modules at the moment of incubation with the ruminal fluid.

[0061] The prebiotic used is yeast extract or autolyzed yeast, respectively, each obtained from the strain deposited with the National Collection of Cultures of Microorganisms (CNCM) on Jan. 31, 2018 under number CNCM 1-5268.

[0062] The prebiotic is administered at a dose of 0.4 g/module (i.e. per 3 g of straw).

[0063] 3. Obtaining the Ruminal Fluid for Fermentation

[0064] The ruminal contents are collected about 2 hours after a meal from dry dairy cows, fitted with a ruminal cannula and fed with a ration based on wheat straw, maize silage and a mineral and vitamin supplement.

[0065] After collection, the ruminal contents are filtered through a metal sieve of mesh 1.6 mm in order to obtain the ruminal fluid.

[0066] The ruminal fluid is then mixed with a buffer solution of pH=7 (ratio 1:1) to form the incubation medium. The latter is bubbled with oxygen-free CO.sub.2.

[0067] 4. Preparation of the Fermentation Modules

[0068] Several modules are prepared. The composition of the different modules and their distribution within the test are presented below:

[0069] Test: Wheat straw and prebiotic (cf. point 2 above). [0070] 3 modules containing wheat straw and yeast extract, hereinafter EXL; [0071] 3 modules containing wheat straw and autolyzed yeast, hereinafter LA; [0072] 3 control modules (C).

[0073] The blank modules, 3 in number, contain only the incubation medium as described in point 3 of the present example.

[0074] The incubation bottles receive 200 ml of incubation medium each, and then are saturated with oxygen-free CO.sub.2. The amount of straw in each module is 3 grams.

[0075] 5. Measurement of the Degraded Dry Matter

[0076] The bottles are incubated at 39° C. for 96 h to allow fermentation.

[0077] After 96 h of incubation, the modules are put in ice in order to stop fermentation. The amount of undegraded dry matter is then measured by filtering and drying the incubation residue at 60° C. for 4 days (called residue hereinafter).

[0078] The incubated substrate corresponds to wheat straw.

[0079] The disappearance of dry matter (in percentage %) is calculated from the following formula:

[incubated substrate−(residue of the incubated substrate−residue of the control module)]/incubated substrate×100

[0080] Whether for the incubated substrate, the residues of the incubated substrate or of the control module, it is the mean value of the results obtained for the modules of one and the same treatment.

[0081] 6. Statistical Analysis

[0082] The results for degradation of dry matter (in percentages %) were submitted to an analysis of variance using the linear general univariate model of the software for statistical analysis of data SPSS® (IBM®, SPSS®, version 22). The model integrates the effects of the covariable and of the products, the covariable being the degradation of the dry matter of the controls (in percentage %). A log 10 transformation of the values expressed as a percentage was carried out for the analysis.

[0083] The results are regarded as not significant when P>0.05.

[0084] The different letters a, b, c used indicate whether the values are significantly different or not. Thus, the results are not significantly different when the same letter is reported (P>0.05).

Results

Effect of the Prebiotic on the Degradation of Wheat Straw

[0085] The results in FIG. 1 show that the degradation of the dry matter is increased significantly in the presence of the prebiotic, whether it is the yeast extract or the autolyzed yeast, the yeast extract giving higher performance than the autolyzed yeast. The use of a prebiotic therefore improves the degradation of wheat straw in vitro.

[0086] The process according to the invention is therefore particularly advantageous in that it makes it possible to improve the degradation of wheat straw.