Clostridium butyricum Improves Rumen Fermentation and Growth Performance of Heat-Stressed Goats In Vitro and In Vivo

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Clostridium butyricum on rumen fermentation and the growth performance of heat-stressed goats. The in vitro fermentation was carried out using Clostridium butyricum supplement at 0% (CG), 0.025% (CB1), 0.05% (CB2), 0.10% (CB3), and 0.20% (CB4) of the dry matter (DM) weight of basal diet. Results showed that ruminal pH and the concentrations of ammonia nitrogen, total volatile fatty acids, acetic acid, propionic acid, as well as the acetic acid to propionic acid ratio were significantly increased (p < 0.05) in CB2 and CB3 compared with the CG group. Additionally, significant increases (p < 0.05) in the degradability of DM, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber were observed in CB2 and CB3 compared with the CG group. For the in vivo study, 12 heat-stressed goats were divided equally into three groups: the control (HS1) was fed the basal diet, and groups HS2 and HS3 were fed with 0.05% and 0.10% Clostridium butyricum added to the basal diet, respectively. The experiment was designed as a 3 × 3 Latin square. Similar effects on rumen fermentation and digestibility parameters were obtained with 0.05% of Clostridium butyricum supplement compared to the in vitro study. Moreover, the dry matter intake and average daily gain were significantly increased (p < 0.05) in HS2 compared with other groups. These results indicated that an effective dose of Clostridium butyricum supplement (0.05%) could improve the rumen fermentation and growth performance of heat-stressed goats.

Effect of Clostridium butyricum Supplementation on in vitro Rumen Fermentation and Microbiota With High Grain Substrate Varying With Media pH Levels

“…The greater butyrate proportion with C. butyricum than control at low media pH or with medium and high (trend) dose of C. butyricum at high pH explained the production of butyrate by C. butyricum . The increased concentrations of NH 3 -N with supplementation of C. butyricum at either media pH 6.0 or pH 6.6 compared with control in the current study is consistent with Cai et al ( 2021 ). Those authors found an increase in the rumen NH 3 -N concentration with supplemented C. butyricum both in in vitro and in vivo , suggesting that supplementation of C. butyricum enhanced the microbial proteolytic activity in the rumen.…”

“…In the current study, the quadratically changed GP kinetics and DMD (numerically) with increasing supplementation of C. butyricum at high media pH appeared to be consistent with the report by Cai et al ( 2021 ) who found greater in vitro rumen digestibilities of DM and NDF with medium and medium-high doses of C. butyricum addition, but lower digestibilities of DM and NDF with high dose. The media pH was also higher with medium than high doses of C. butyricum in the study of Cai et al ( 2021 ). These results suggest that high media pH would favor the activity of C. butyricum in the rumen, which might explain the positive effect of C. butyricum on GP and DMD at media pH 6.6 but not at media pH 6.0 in the present study.…”

“…Li et al ( 2021 ) reported that dietary supplementation of C. butyricum with 2 × 10 8 CFU/kg DM increased the molar proportions of propionate and butyrate and decreased the proportion of acetate without changing the total VFA concentration in the rumen of heifers. Whereas, in the study of Cai et al ( 2021 ), both total VFA concentration and VFA profiles were increased by supplementing C. butyricum at 0.05% and 0.10% of the basal diet; the increased VFA concentration was due to increased in vitro rumen DMD. It is reported that as a butyrate producer, C. butyricum could produce short-chain fatty acids and nutritional factors such as enzymes (exo-pectate lyase, pectin methylesterase, and endo-pectate lyase) and vitamins (vitamins B and E), which would favor the activities of both cellulolytic and amylolytic bacteria, thereby improving rumen fermentability (Araki et al, 2002 ; Li et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Those authors found an increase in the rumen NH 3 -N concentration with supplemented C. butyricum both in in vitro and in vivo , suggesting that supplementation of C. butyricum enhanced the microbial proteolytic activity in the rumen. Nevertheless, the microbial protein synthesis in the rumen was not reported in that study (Cai et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The greater butyrate proportion HCON, control at media pH 6.6; LCON, control at media pH 6.0; HCB, C. butyricum supplemented at 1 × 10 6 CFU/bottle at media pH 6.6; LCB, C. butyricum supplemented at 1 × 10 6 CFU/bottle at media pH 6.0. authors found an increase in the rumen NH 3 -N concentration with supplemented C. butyricum both in in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that supplementation of C. butyricum enhanced the microbial proteolytic activity in the rumen. Nevertheless, the microbial protein synthesis in the rumen was not reported in that study (Cai et al, 2021).…”