Methane emissions and rumen microbial changes in steers fed condensed tannin containing diets under western Canadian conditions
| dc.contributor.author | Bouchard, Kristen | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Wittenberg, Karin (Animal Science) Holley, Rick (Food Science) McAllister, Tim (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Ominski, Kim (Animal Science) Krause, Denis (Animal Science) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-08-26T16:39:47Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2011-08-26T16:39:47Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-08-26 | |
| dc.degree.discipline | Animal Science | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Science (M.Sc.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | A study was conducted to determine if sainfoin, a condensed tannin (CT) containing legume, fed to beef cattle as hay or silage during a western Canadian winter would result in a reduction in methane (CH4) emissions without compromising animal performance. Forty yearling beef steers were fed four diets in a factorial design consisting of two legume forage species (sainfoin or alfalfa) and two preservation methods (silage or hay) over 15 weeks (wks). For each sample wk, animal weight, 24-h CH4 expiration and rumen fluid samples were obtained. Rumen methanogens were characterized using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms analysis. Specific bacteria were quantified with real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Sainfoin silage (SS) and sainfoin hay (SH) contained 11.9 and 10.5 mg g-1 of CT respectively and supported an acceptable growth rate for backgrounding steers. A decline (P < 0.05) in enteric CH4 formation could only be detected from SH-fed animals compared to alfalfa hay (AH) fed animals when CH4 was expressed as L d-1 or L kg BW-1. The rumen archaeal community structure of experimental animals remained stable regardless of diet type or sample wk. Structural carbohydrate-fermenting bacteria were suppressed in silage diets. Methanogens were less abundant in the rumen fluid samples of steers fed SS but not SH. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | October 2011 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/4779 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | methane | en_US |
| dc.subject | condensed tannin | en_US |
| dc.subject | sainfoin | en_US |
| dc.subject | beef cattle | en_US |
| dc.title | Methane emissions and rumen microbial changes in steers fed condensed tannin containing diets under western Canadian conditions | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |