Effects of Gelidium amansii extracts on in vitro ruminal fermentation characteristics, methanogenesis, and microbial populations

OBJECTIVE: Gelidium amansii (Lamouroux) is a red alga belonging to the family Gelidaceae and is commonly found in the shallow coasts of many East Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan. G. amansii has traditionally been utilized as an edible alga, and has various biological activities. The objective of this study was to determine whether dietary supplementation of G. amansii could be useful for improving ruminal fermentation. METHODS: As assessed by in vitro fermentation parameters such as pH, total gas, volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, gas profile (methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and ammonia), and microbial growth rate was compared to a basal diet with timothy hay. Cannulated Holstein cows were used as rumen fluid donors and 15 mL rumen fluid: buffer (1:2) was incubated for up to 72 h with four treatments with three replicates. The treatments were: control (timothy only), basal diet with 1% G. amansii extract, basal diet with 3% G. amansii extract, and basal diet with 5% G. amansii extract. RESULTS: Overall, the results of our study indicate that G. amansii supplementation is potentially useful for improving ruminant growth performance, via increased total gas and VFA production, but does come with some undesirable effects, such as increasing pH, ammonia concentration, and methane production. In particular, real-time polymerase chain reaction indicated that the methanogenic archaea and Fibrobacter succinogenes populations were significantly reduced, while the Ruminococcus flavefaciens populations were significantly increased at 24 h, when supplemented with G. amansii extracts as compared with controls. CONCLUSION: More research is required to elucidate what G. amansii supplementation can do to improve growth performance, and its effect on methane production in ruminants.