The present study examined the effects of Tithonia diversifolia on in vitro methane (CH4) production and ruminal fermentation characteristics. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomised design (CRD) using a control (0% T. diversifolia) and three treatment groups with different concentrations (6.9%, 15.2%, 29.2%) of T. diversifolia, which replaced up to 15.2% and 14% dry matter (DM) of fresh sugarcane and concentrates, respectively. Ruminal fluid was obtained from two ruminally cannulated non-lactating Holstein × Zebu heifers maintained on a diet consisting of T. diversifolia, fresh sugarcane and 4 kg of concentrates. The inclusion of T. diversifolia had no effect (P ≥ 0.15) on cumulative gas production (mL, mL/g incubated DM, mL/g digested DM) or in vitro DM disappearance (%). Carbon dioxide (%, mL, mL/g incubated DM) linearly decreased (P ≤ 0.001) and CH4 (%, mL, mL/g incubated DM) quadratically increased (P ≤ 0.01) with increasing concentrations of T. diversifolia replacing fresh sugarcane and concentrates. The total volatile fatty acids (mM) and acetate (A) proportion of total volatile fatty acids (mmol/100 mmol) linearly increased (P < 0.01) with the increasing inclusion of T. diversifolia. Butyrate (mmol/100 mmol) increased quadratically (P ≤ 0.02), while propionate (P; mmol/100 mmol) decreased quadratically (P < 0.02). The A : P ratio increased linearly (P < 0.0001) with increasing amounts of T. diversifolia in the diet. These results indicated that increasing the amount of Tithonia diversifolia in the substrate DM increased the A : P ratio, which resulted in a six-fold increase of CH4 production when fresh sugarcane and concentrates were replaced at up to 15.2% and 14% (DM basis), respectively.
Summary Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a mixture of positional isomers of linoleic acid found in ruminant products and meat. The diet supplementing with CLA is an emerging area, requiring studies to elucidate its effects on animals and human reproduction, as well as its side effects. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of CLA gastric administration, during the pregestational and gestational period in biometric and reproductive parameters, as well as in ovarian morphophysiology. Animals were distributed in three groups: (1) control (n = 10); (2) fish oil (n = 10); and (3) CLA (n = 10), that daily received, by gavage, phosphate-buffered saline, fish oil and CLA, respectively, carried out over 50 days (before mating, mating and pregnancy). There was an increment in the nasoanal distance and Lee index of the CLA and fish oil-treated groups during the first weeks (P > 0.05). CLA administration did not affect the ovarian follicle mobilization (P > 0.05), the number of follicles (P > 0.05) and the integrated density of lipid content of oocytes included in antral follicles (P > 0.05). There was no effect of CLA administration on the litter weight (P > 0.05; F2 and F3), however, an increment (P < 0.05) in the number of pups per litter (F2) was observed. Overall, this study demonstrated the absence of side effects of the CLA gastric administration on mice reproductive performance and suggests that this treatment would transgenerationally enhance fertility in this species.
T. Diversifolia can growth in acid soils including high levels of aluminium and low levels of phosphorus. 9 It is important to mention that T. Diversifolia is able to take mobilized phosphorus from the soil to the plant, which is a positive characteristic for most of tropical soils. It requires 800 to 5.000mm of water, 16 to 30°C and can growth from sea level to 2.500m altitude. 9 Usually, T. Diversifolia occurs in marginal area as of roads, around crop fields and hedges or close to farm houses. In Latin America and Caribbean (Colombia, México, Cuba, Panama, Dominican Republic and Brazil) pure stands are growing fast as farmers start to recognize the high biomass production and nutritional value of the plant. Usually, T. Diversifolia is propagated from stem cuttings of 20 to 40cm length, inserted vertically into the soil, 10 to 20cm deep. Seeds can also be used as they germinate under the canopy or even in plastic bags, and then seedlings transplanted to other areas. The main benefit of this method is that the roots will grow deeper in the soils, compared to vegetative method, and the growth is improved. However, the biomass production is influenced by soil quality, planting methods, cutting frequency, stand density and weather. 9,12,13 Although it has been used as a fodder for animal nutrition, 4,7,8,14 there are several uses reported for T. Diversifolia like insect repellent and negative effect against ants, 15 allelopathic effect against other plants, 16,17 source of nectar for bees 18 and sources of nutrients (N, P and K) for degraded soils as the biomass is quickly decomposed and consequently nutrients are easily released to the soil. 2,19 Nutritive value The studies developed by The University of Sao Joao del-Rei-Brazil (UFSJ) and CIPAV (Colombia) showed promising results for the use of T. Diversifolia as forage for ruminant nutrition. The chemical constituents of whole plant, leaves and stem obtained during the booting and pre-flowering stage when plant height reached 0.80-1.0m from the soil are good examples of important elements that could provide positive evidences of the nutritional values of T. Diversifolia. 20 The total dry matter (8.1ton/ha for booting and 5.6t/ha for pre-flowering) and fresh production (41.3ton/ha for booting and 24.7t/ha for pre-flowering) of whole plant were also included (alley crop system). The protein values during the booting (164.7g/kg DM) were higher compared to pre-flowering (149.1g/kg DM) stage. These values are as high as the values observed in some tropical legumes like, Stylosanthesguianensis (162.0g/kg DM), 21 Arachispintoi (180.0g/kg DM) 22 Gliricidia sepium (139.0g/kg DM) 22 and are higher
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a mixture of positional isomers of linoleic acid found in meat and dairy products from ruminants. It is a trans fat widely used by athletes as a food supplement, due to a supposed effect of maximizing the use of body fat reserves. The interest in diet and culture media supplementation with CLA is an emerging area, demanding studies in order to elucidate its benefits in the reproductive parameters, as well as in cryopreservation. Therefore, the aim of this review was to discuss the effects of CLA on the oocytes, sperm and embryos cryotolerance. Some studies have already demonstrated its use in cryopreservation of germline. Among those, it was observed that CLA supplementation during oocyte in vitro maturation can increase their viability post-freezing and developmental capacity. Regarding the use of CLA on sperm, there are few studies and their results are still inconclusive. Finally, studies about CLA supplementation on embryo culture media have shown promising results, indicating that this bioactive molecule is able to modulate lipid uptake on blastomeres. Altogether, these findings demonstrate the potential use of CLA as a bioactive molecule to improve germline and embryo cryotolerance and open new perspectives on human and animal reproduction field.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of vegetable oils from plants grown in Brazil, first using the in vitro batch culture, and then evaluating the oil with methane (CH4) reducing potential in an in vivo experiment. The in vitro experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design using the seven contrasting oils. Treatments consisted of a control and 3 increasing concentrations (0, 1, 2, and 5% v/v) of oil added to a tifton 85 hay samples. All vegetable oils linearly decreased (P < 0.01) gas production after 24 h of incubation, with the greatest reduction when 5% of oil was included into the diet. Açaí and buriti had no effect of CH4 (% or mL/g DM incubated) however carrot, macaúba, basil, passionflower, and pequi oil all linearly decreased (P < 0.01) CH4 production with increasing inclusion rate of oil. Pequi oil resulted in the largest decrease in CH4 production (mL/g DM incubated) after 24 h of in vitro incubation. The objective of the in vivo experiment was to evaluate the effects of pequi oil on nutrient digestibility, CH4 production, and rumen fermentation parameters in wethers fed a hay-based diet. The experiment was conducted as a 2 × 2 Latin Square design using 4 Dorper wethers (63.4 ± 1.46 kg body weight). There were 2 experimental periods of 21 d each, with d 1–14 used for diet adaptation and d 15–21 for measurements and collections. The treatments consisted of a control diet and pequi oil fed at 70 g per animal per day. The addition of pequi oil to the diet had no effect on feed intake or the digestibility of nutrients, however there was a numerical decrease in the population of cellulolytic bacteria. There was a tendency (P = 0.06) for pequi oil addition to decrease CH4 production (g/d) by 17.5%. From this study, we can conclude that pequi oil may be used as a suitable oil for reducing CH4 production from ruminants, with no negative effects on intake or digestibility.
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