Resumen:
The potential to use abattoir’s rumen fluid as a source to produce a carbohydrate degrading enzymatic
feed additive by using spray-drying technique was studied. Rumen contents were taken from the
slaughterhouse and powdered by spray drying with different hydrocolloids including sodium alginate
(RA), guar gum (RG), chitosan (RC) and maltodextrin (RM) in two ratios (0.5 and 1% (w/v)). Fresh (RF) and
spray dried rumen fluid without hydrocolloid materials (RN) were considered as controls. Residual activities
compared to those measured in the fresh rumen fluid ranged from 68.6 (RC0.5) to 92.5% (RM1) for
carboxymethyl cellulase, from 53.4 (RC1) to 73.2% (RM1) for avicelase, from 59.8 (RA0.5) to 84.6% (FM1)
for amylase, and from 63.7 (RG0.5) to 95.8% (RM1) for filter paperase. Spray drying in the absence of a
hydrocolloid resulted in 81.3% residual activity of carboxymethyl cellulase, 63.3% of avicelase, 68.6% of
amylase, and 73.0% of filter paperase. The addition of 1% (w/v) maltodextrin was shown to retain the
highest enzyme activities after spray drying. In addition, a dry matter degrading test was carried out to
show the ability of the enzyme preparations at two concentrations (1 or 2% solution in phosphate buffer)
to digest a typical dairy cow diet. At 1%, RF resulted in highest dry matter digestibility (P < 0.05) and at 2%
dry matter digestibility of RC0.5, RC1 and RF were similar (P < 0.05). With increasing amounts of the
enzyme preparations, an increase in dry matter digestibility occurred (P < 0.05). This study suggests that
use spray drying technique with additives especially maltodextrin could be considered as an efficient
method for drying abattoir’s rumen fluid to produce an environmental friendly enzyme additive for
animal feeding.