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Effect of a commercially probiotic on in vitro gas production of alfalfa hay and barley grain
Effect of addition of a commercial multi-strain probiotic (PrimaLac, Star Labs, St. Joseph, MO) was studied on Kinetics of fermentation of alfalfa hay and barley grain using in vitro gas production technique. Thirty six ml of buffered rumen fluid (30% rumen fluid + 70% buffer solution) was added to 300 mg of either ground alfalfa hay or barley grain with or without 20 mg PrimaLac. Each sample was incubated in three replicates. The pressure of gas produced in each tube was recorded using a pressure transducer (Manometer Digital testo 512) in barley grain and alfalfa hay at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24 and 48h after the start of the incubation and at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24 , 48, 72 and 96h after the start of the incubation, respectively. The data were subjected to analysis of variance using General Linear Model procedure of SAS (2003). Mean separation was performed by the T-tests. Potential gas production (ml/300 mg DM) significantly (P<0.05) increased in alfalfa hay and barley grain (75.85 vs 73.66 and 131.30 vs 113.55 respectively) due to the addition of the probiotic. Rate of gas production in half life (ml/h), lag time (h) and half-life (h, at which half of the total gas production is produced) was affected by PrimaLac both in alfalfa and barley grain (P<0.05) Also, total rate of gas production (b) was increased significantly (P<0.05) in Alfalfa hay (0.0162 vs 0.0082), but was not significant in barley grain. From the result of this experiment it appears that addition of PrimaLac at the level used has a pronounce effect on the fermentation of hay and grains.
Keywords:
probiotic, Primalac, alfalfa hay, barley, in vitro gas production.