INFLUENCIA DE Lactobacillus farciminis SOBRE LA FERMENTACIÓN EN INTESTINO GRUESO Y PRODUCCIÓN DE GASES EN IN VITRO EN CABALLO

Abstract

The current study was outlined to investigate the influence of fecal inocula obtained from horses supplemented with Lactobacillus farciminis (L. farciminis) in diets constituting 50% oat straw on in vitro gas production (GP), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) productions as indicators of hindgut activity. The experiments were assessed on four Azteca horses ranging from 5 to 8 years of age, weighing 480±20.1 kg. The treatments comprised the in vitro incubation of fecal inocula with commercial product of L. farciminis at 0, 2, 4, and 6 mg/g dry matter (DM) of substrate. The fecal content mixed with the culture media were used to inoculate into the substrate containing a mixture of commercial concentrate and oat straw (1:1 DM). The subsequent incorporation of additives resulted into increased level of asymptotic GP, CH4, and CO2 productions (P<0.05). The rate of gas production as well as initial delay before gas production begins were observed to be unaffected (linear, P>0.05; quadric, P>0.05). A significant reduction in the fermentation pH range (linear, P=0.029) and higher metabolizable energy (ME) values (P=0.001) were obtained with the supplementation of L. farciminis in a dose dependent manner, whereas no impact of additives were reported on DMD (dry matter degraded) values (P>0.05). The in vitro GP, CH4, and CO2 productions were measured up to 48 h post incubation using standard methodology, and depicted 24 higher responses. The additives at varied concentrations resulted in increased in vitro GP, CH4, and CO2 productions (linear, P≤0.001) from 6 to 48 h of incubation. In conclusion, the dose dependent addition of L. farciminis (2 to 6 mg/g DM of diet) found to be persuasive in terms of attaining amicable hindgut fermentation in order to digest fibrous forage by horses without any side effect.