Effect of Chihua Pumpkin Residue (Cucurbita argyrosperma) in Ruminal Gas Production and Digestibility in vitro

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of chihua pumpkin (Cucurbita argyrosperma) residue in ruminal digestibility and gas production in an in vitro assay. Four treatments were evaluated: a control using a standard diet for ruminants elaborated with corn stover, corn grain and soybean meal, and three experimental diets with 10, 20 and 30% dry residue of chihua pumpkin instead of corn stover. Dry matter digestibility and gas production was determined at 24 h of incubation in ruminal fluid obtained from two Holstein cows with a ruminal cannula. Randomized block experimental design was used as and a comparison of means was performed by the Tukey test. The results indicated that dry matter digestibility was significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05), while gas production tended to decrease (P≤0.1) with the addition of residue of chihua pumpkin. Under the conditions of this study, it was concluded that the residue of chihua pumpkin could be an environmentally friendly and ecological alternative for feeding ruminants that can be incorporated into the diet as much as 30% of the ration. However, this study was limited to an in vitro assay; in vivo studies are necessary to evaluate the potential of chihua pumpkin´s residue in the productive performance of ruminants. It would also be appropriate to evaluate the intake behavior, productive performance and nutritional status of animals fed with different forms of processed residue of chihua pumpkin.A key issue for sustainable development of animal production is the efficient use of resources, using feedstuffs that do not compete with human and reducing waste (Wadhwa and Bakshi, 2013). This coupled with the high cost of grains and an increasing demand for meat and milk for human consumption, makes it necessary to search for new alternatives for feeding livestock that positively affect health and productive performance of animals, while reducing production costs. Thus the waste of fruits and vegetables is an ecological and economically viable option to fulfill this purpose. Every year a lot of this waste is generated worldwide and Mexico is no exception. One example is the crop residue of chihua pumpkin (Cucurbita argyrosperma) (ChP). According to the SIAP (2015), in 2014 37,872 hectares of chihua pumpkin were harvested for its seeds in México, generating about 644,000 tons of fresh waste. Seeds of chihua pumpkin have high commercial and economic value, while the rest of the

Pumpkin Waste as Livestock Feed: Impact on Nutrition and Animal Health and on Quality of Meat, Milk, and Egg

“…Regarding the fruit, Dorantes et al [58] mention that the dry residue of Cucurbita argyrosperma (peel and pulp only) has low protein content (<9%) but contains almost 50% of neutral detergent fiber and 40% of acid detergent fiber, which makes it suitable for the formulation of diets for dairy cattle and rabbits. On the other hand, Crosby et al [71] mention that the ruminal digestibility of dry matter increases 21% by replacing up to 30% of corn stubble with dry residue of Cucurbita argyrosperma ; however, the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber decreases 7%, which is attributed to the degradation of nonfibrous carbohydrates such as sugars, which are rapidly fermented. Possibly, the sugar content is one of the reasons why the incorporation of pumpkin improves the palatability of the diet [72].…”

Unsalable Vegetables Ensiled With Sorghum Promote Heterofermentative Lactic Acid Bacteria and Improve in vitro Rumen Fermentation

“…( Cogan and Jordan, 1994 ) in the presence of a higher quantity of fermentable sugars and water-soluble carbohydrates in pumpkin ( Halik et al, 2018 ). Consequently, several reports have indicated that the presence of high water-soluble carbohydrate content following the inclusion of pumpkin increases the rumen-simulated DM fermentation by 26.5% with pumpkin inclusion in sorghum silage at 40% DM ( Forwood et al, 2021 ), effective degradability in an in situ system by 13.8% w pumpkin inclusion in sorghum silage at 40% DM ( Forwood et al, 2020 ), and IVDMD by 21 and 15.6% with pumpkin inclusion at 30% DM and 40% DM, respectively ( Crosby-Galván et al, 2018 ; Forwood et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Silages supplemented with vegetables favor the growth of Lactobacillus spp., simultaneously increasing the microbial diversity with sorghum, while maintaining in vitro fermentation and gas parameters [mL/g DM gas; percent, mg/g DM; mg/g CH 4 digestible dry matter (DMD)] with maize ( Forwood et al, 2019 ; Hooker et al, 2019 ). Moreover, in vitro studies have also utilized pumpkin ensiled at 30% DM with corn stover, which increased in vitro DM digestibility by 25%, while consequently decreasing gas production by 6% ( Crosby-Galván et al, 2018 ).…”

Physicochemical and Preference Evaluation of Silages from Cucurbita argyrosperma Huber Residues and Its Effect on the Production and Composition of Milk from Dual-purpose Cows in Campeche, Mexico: Pilot Study

“…Considering the increasing demand of food from animal origin [5], it is primordial to search for feed alternatives for livestock in order to diminish feed-food competition [8,9]. Our previous studies [13,16,17] and others [43] have described the potential of CR for animal feeding. We demonstrate that CR can be ensiled, and despite the technical limitations, this is the first pilot study in vivo suggesting that CR is accepted by cattle and does not modify milk production or composition in cows in a dual-purpose system.…”

“…Nonetheless information regarding the use of Cucurbita argyrosperma Huber in animal feed is still scarce. However, in an in vitro study it was shown that the dry residue of this pumpkin improves the degradability of dry matter (DM) in diets with high forage content [17].…”