The survival of silage lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in the gut of dairy cows was evaluated by examining the LAB communities of silage and gut contents. Samples were collected at 2 different research institutes (Mie and Okayama) that offered total mixed ration (TMR) silage throughout the year. Silage and feces were sampled in August, October, and November at the Mie institute, whereas silage, rumen fluid, and feces were sampled in June and August at the Okayama institute. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis using Lactobacillus-specific primers was performed to detect LAB species in the samples. The selected bands were purified for species identification and the band patterns were used for principal component analysis. Lactic acid was the predominant fermentation product in all the TMR silages analyzed, and the lactic acid level tended to be constant regardless of the sampling time and region. A total of 14 LAB species were detected in the TMR silage samples, of which 5 (Lactobacillus acetotolerans, Lactobacillus pontis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus suebicus, and Lactobacillus plantarum) were detected in the dairy cow feces. Most of the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis bands for the feces samples were also detected in the rumen fluid, suggesting that any elimination of silage LAB occurred in the rumen and not in the postruminal gut segments. The principal component analysis indicated that the LAB communities in the silage, rumen fluid, and feces were separately grouped; hence, the survival of silage LAB in the cow rumen and lower gut was deemed difficult. It was concluded that, although the gut LAB community is robust and not easily affected by the silage conditions, several LAB species can inhabit both silage and feces, which suggests the potential of using silage as a vehicle for conveying probiotics.
The experiment of silage for preservation of fresh Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) was carried out to examine whether the fermentation quality and microbial degradation in the rumen can be altered by the treatment of amino acids fermentation byproduct (AFB). The plant was ensiled for 40 days with 4 treatments of different ratios of AFB and sugarcane molasses (SCM) mixture. The treatment 2 (T2, AFB:SCM=100:0) and treatment 3 (T3, AFB:SCM=40:60) silages showed higher (p<0.05) concentrations of lactic acids, lower (p<0.05) pH and dry matter (DM) losses than the Control (T1, none additive) and treatment (T4, AFB:SCM=0:100) silages. The treatments 2 and 3 contained higher (p<0.05) DM and crude protein contents in silages compared to treatments 1 and 4 silages. The NDF, ADF and cellulose contents were also lower (p<0.05) in T2, T3 and T4 silages than T1 silage and fresh material before ensiled. The in situ rumen DM, NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose degradability was also higher (p<0.05) in T2, T3 and T4 silages than T1 silage, while the highest improvement was achieved with addition of AFB:SCM at level of 40:60 at ensiling. The result in this study indicates that the addition of AFB and SCM additives improved the silage fermentation and cell wall degradability of Italian ryegrass silage.
Effect of a single or double inseminations at fixed-time basis on lambing rate of ewes treated with 2 different progestogen-impregnated intravaginal sponges during the non-breeding season was investigated in 3 trials (Farms T, H and S). A total of 236 mature Suffolk ewes were treated with either 60 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP)-or 500 mg progesterone (P) impregnated intravaginal sponge for 9 days and an intramuscular injection of 600 IU PMSG one day before sponge removal. The MAP-and P-treated ewes were inseminated once (36 hr) or twice (30 and 42 hr) with fresh-undiluted semen after sponge removal. The lambing rates in 4 groups were 44.6, 50.9, 46.6 and 50.0% for MAP-single, MAP-double, P-single and P-double inseminations, respectively. There were no significant differences in the lambing rates between the two types of sponges (46.5 and 48.3% for MAP and P sponges, respectively) and between the numbers of insemination (45.6 and 50.4% for a single and double insemination, respectively). The lambing rate in Farm H (33.7%) was significantly lower than those in Farms T (50.0%: p<0.05) and S (61.7%: p<0.01).
As a forage source for total mixed ration (TMR) silage production, locally produced crop silage is now used in addition to imported hay. This type of TMR ensiling is regarded as a two-step fermentation process; hence, a survey was carried out to determine whether the bacteria in crop silage affect the subsequent TMR ensiling. Fermentation product contents and bacterial community were determined for TMR silage and its ingredient silages collected in August, October and November. August product contained corn, sorghum and Italian ryegrass silages, October product had wheat silage exclusively and November product did not include any crop silages. Acetic acid, lactic acid, 2,3-butanediol and ethanol were predominant fermentation products in corn, sorghum, Italian ryegrass and wheat silages, respectively. Robust lactic acid fermentation was seen in TMR silage, even if acetate-type and alcohol-type silages were mixed as ingredients. The finding that bacterial community of the TMR silage appeared unrelated to those of ingredient silage supported this. Silages of various fermentation types can therefore be formulated without interfering with lactate-type fermentation in TMR silage.
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