Comparative in vitro evaluation of forage legumes (prosopis, acacia, atriplex, and leucaena) on ruminal fermentation and methanogenesis

Journal of Animal and Feed Sciences, 21, 2012, 753–766

Comparative in vitro evaluation of forage legumes (prosopis, acacia, atriplex, and leucaena) on ruminal fermentation and methanogenesis Y.A. Soltan1,2,4, A.S. Morsy1,3, S.M.A. Sallam2, H. Louvandini1 and A.L. Abdalla1 Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, University of Sao Paulo 13400-970 Brazil 2 Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Alexandria 21545, Egypt 3 Agricultural Research Centre, Animal Production Research Institute 23713, Dokki, Egypt 1

(Received 5 April 2012; revised version 30 September 2012; accepted

2012)

ABSTRACT Two experiments in vitro were conducted to evaluate four Egyptian forage legume browses, i.e., leaves of prosopis (Prosopis juliflora), acacia (Acacia saligna), atriplex (Atriplex halimus), and leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), in comparison with Tifton (Cynodon sp.) grass hay for their gas production, methanogenic potential, and ruminal fermentation using a semi-automatic system for gas production (first experiment) and for ruminal and postruminal protein degradability (second experiment). Acacia and leucaena showed pronounced methane inhibition compared with Tifton, while prosopis and leucaena decreased the acetate:propionate ratio (P