In Situ Rumen Degradability of Halophyte Plants Atriplex leucoclada, Suaeda fruticosa and Seidlitzia rosmarinusas Individually or Mixed in Dromedary Camels

Document Type : Ruminant Nutrition

Authors

• Akbar Abarghani ¹
• Morteza Chaji ²
• Hormoz Mansouri ³
• Morteza Mamouei ²
• Khalil Mirzadeh ²
• Hedayatollah roshanfekr ⁴

¹ Faculty of Animal Sciences and Food Industry, Khuzestan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

² Faculty of Animal Science and Food Technology, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Khuzestan, Iran.

³ Iran Animal Science Research Institute-Karaj

⁴ Department of Animal Science, University of Khuzestan Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Khuzestan, Iran.

10.22067/ijasr.v10i3.63675

Abstract

Introduction: Halophytic plants constitute a significant part of the local flora in arid and semiarid regions. Native sheep, goats and camels graze these forages. The Suaeda fruticosa, Seidlitzia rosmarinus and Atriplex leucoclada that are belonging to the chenopodiaceae family, have considerable forage potential in the arid and semiarid rangelands. Overall, these plants are tolerant to drought, and used to reclaim degraded rangeland. In addition, they reduce ground water salinity and improve condition and structure of soil. Meanwhile, there are some secondary metabolites in halophytic plants like condense tannin that effect on consume and performance of the animals. Characteristic of a pasture, climatic conditions the pasture, range management, time of grazing in the pasture, animal characteristics and method of study are factors that all or some can influence yield, chemical compositions and rumen degradability of Halophytic plants. There are a few reports about the nutrition value of Atriplex spp., Seidlitzia spp. and suaeda spp. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate of chemical composition and nutrients degradability of these halophyte plants for dromedary camels.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan. Two female camels (about four years old) with rumen fistula were used in present experiment. The plants sampling were conducted from three regions of Jofer, Howayzeh and road of Abadan-Khorramshahr on the Khuzestan province in southwest of Iran, an area of approximately 60 Km in diameter. All ranges in term of topography have plain shape, without stone and deep canyons, and with high levels of underground water. The soil of these ranges has salinity characteristic and clay constitution. The study regions climate typified that of south Khuzestan. Annual mean temperature is 24.9°C with average minimum and maximum temperatures ranging from 2.6°C in January to 42°C in August. Precipitation averaged 224 mm per day.  The study area had a fair diversity of vegetation types. Four types of these plants named Atriplex leucoclada (AL), Suaeda fruticosa (SF), Seidlitzia rosmarinus (SR) were evaluated individually or in different mixture in completely randomized design. Treatments were, T1, 33.5% AL + 66.5% SR; T2, 100% AL; T3, 66.5% AL + 33.5% SF; T4, 66.5% AL + 33.5% SR; T5, 100% SR; T6, 33.5% AL + 66.5% SF; T7, 66.5% SR + 33.5% SF; T8, 66.5% SF + 33.5% SR; T9, 100% SF. Dry matter (DM), crude protein CP, ether extract (EE), ash, NDF, ADF, lignin, hemicellulose, cellulose, non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC), neutral detergent soluble fiber (NDSF), total 80% ethanol-soluble carbohydrate (TESC), organic acids, starch and in situ degradability of DM, OM, NDF, CP of each plants were measured. 
 
Results and Discussion: Atriplex leucoclada had the highest hemicellulose, NDF and organic matter among three halophyte plants. The highest concentrations of tannin and oxalate and organic acids were related to Seidlitzia rosmarinus. The SR and AL had respectively highest and lowest dry matter (DM) degradability and effective degradability (ED) (P<0.05). There was not any difference between Seidlitzia rosmarinus and mixture of Seidlitzia rosmarinus + Suaeda fruticose (Treat 7 and 8). Briefly, according to the results of this section, replacement the high levels of Seidlitzia rosmarinus instead of Suaeda fruticose, increase the dry matter degradability more effectiveness than low levels of that. Organic matter degradability of the SR and SF was significantly higher than the AL (P<0.05). The T7 and T2 treatments had the highest and lowest NDF degradability among others, respectively (P<0.05). Crude protein degradability was highest in the treat containing 66.5% SR+33.5% AL (T1), and AL treat had lowest in situ CP degradability percentage. The results were shown that CP degradation rate was faster than DM, OM and NDF in the initial incubation times.
 Conclusion: It was concluded that according to DM, OM and NDF degradability, the best plant mix for better feeding of grazing camels are treatments T5, T7 and T8 (without AL); but as protein degradability and chemical composition data, the treatments containing AL (T1, T3, T4 andT6, excepted T2) were the best mix. Therefore, it seems that one of the strategies for improving the digestibility of halophyte plants in camels is mixing these plants with each other, which according to the results of the present experiment, a combination of AL with SR or SF may be caused to more ruminal degradability in feeding of grazing camel and rehabilitation of rangelands.

Keywords

• Nylon bags
• Organic acids
• Oxalate
• Phenolic components
• Tannin

20.1001.1.20083106.1397.10.3.8.5

---

References

1. Abarghani, A., M. Chaji, H. Mansouri, M. Mamouei, Kh. Mirzadeh, and H. Roshanfekr. 2015. Chemical composition, metabolizable energy and in vitro digestibility of three camel browsed halophyte species. Animal Science, 28 (106): 29-42. (In Persian).

2. AOAC International. 2012. Official Methods of Analysis. 19th ed. AOAC International, Gaithersburg, MD.

3. Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1992. Nutrient requirement of ruminant animals. Protein. Technical committee on response to nutrients. Report No.9. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews. Series B 62: 787-835.

4. Bach, A., S. Calsamiglia, and M. D. Stern. 2005. Nitrogen metabolism in the rumen. Journal of Dairy Science, 88 (E. Suppl.): E9-E21.

5. Beckers, Y., A. Thewis, B. Maudoux, and E. Francois. 1995. Studies on the in situ nitrogen degradability corrected for bacterial contamination of concentrate feeds in steers. Journal of Animal Science, 73: 220–227.

6. Ben Salem, H., H. C. Norman, A. Nefzaoui, D. E. Mayberry, K. L. Pearce, and D. K. Revell. 2010. Potential use of oldman saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl.) in sheep and goat feeding. A review. Small Ruminant Research, 91: 13-28.

7. Ben Salem, H., H. P. S. Makkar, A. Nefzaoui, H. Hassayoum, and S. Abidi. 2005. Benefit from association of small amounts of tannin–rich shrub foliage (Acacia cyanophylla Lindl.) with soya bean meal given as supplements to Barbarine sheep fed on oaten hay. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 122: 173-186.

8. Benjamin, R. W., Y. Lavie, M. Forti, D. Barkai, R. Yonatan, and Y. Hefetz. 1995. Annual regrowth and edible biomass of two species of Atriplex and Cassia sturtii after browsing. Journal of Arid Environments, 29: 63–84.

9. Danesh Mesgaran, M., and M. D. Stern. 2005. Ruminal and post-ruminal protein disappearance of various feeds originating from Iranian plants varieties determined by the in situ mobile bag technique and alternative methods. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 118: 31–46.

10. El Shaer, H. M. 2010. Halophytes and salt-tolerant plants as potential forage for ruminants in the Near East region. A Review. Small Ruminant Research, 91: 3-12.

11. El Shatnawi, M. K. J., and A. Y. Abdullah. 2003. Composition changes of Atriplex nummularia L.under Mediterranean arid environment. African Journal of Range and Forage Science, 20: 253–257.

12. Georing, H. K., and P. J. Van Soest. 1970. Forage fiber analysis: apparatus, reagents, procedures, and some applications. Agriculture Handbook No. 379, USDA.

13. Gihad, E. A., and H. M. El Shaer. 1992. Pages 77-96 in Proc. Halophytes as a source of livestock and for rehabilitation of degraded lands, Utilization of halophytes by livestock on rangelands. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.

14. Haddi, M. L., S. Filacorda, K. Meniai, F. Rollin, and P. Susmel, 2003. In vitro fermentation kinetics of some halophyte shrubs sampled at three stages of maturity. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 104: 215-225.

15. Hall, M. B. 2000. Neutral detergent soluble carbohydrates. Nutritional relevance and analysis, A Laboratory Manual. University of Florida. Bulletin. 339.

16. Kaitho, R. J., I. V. Nsahlai, B. A. Williams, N. N. Umunna, S. Tamminga, and J. Van Bruchem. 1998. Nitrogen in browse species: ruminal degradability and post-ruminal digestibility measured by mobile nylon bag and in vitro techniques. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 76: 488-498.

17. Martindale, M. 1995. The extra pharmacopeia. 23th ed. Council of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Pharmaceutical press, London.

18. Ørskov, E. R., and I. McDonald. 1979. The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighted according to rate of passage. Journal of Agricultural Science (Cambridge), 92: 499–503.

19. Pathak, N. N., D. N. Kamra, N. Agarwal, and R. C. Jakhmola. 1996. Analytical Techniques in Animal Nutrition Research. 1st ed.

20. Rezvani Moghadam, P., and A. R. Koocheki. 2003. A comprehensive survey of halophytes in Khorasan province of Iran. Proceeding Cash Crop Halophytes: Recent studies. Academic Publishers/Kluwer, Dordrecht, Netherlands/Boston, MA, USA. 189–195.

21. Riasi, A., M. Danesh Mesgaran, M. D. Stern, and M. J. Ruiz Moreno. 2008. Chemical composition, in situ ruminal degradability and post-ruminal disappearance of dry matter and crude protein from the halophytic plants Kochia scoparia, Atriplex dimorpHostegia, Suaeda arcuata and Gamanthus gamacarpus. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 141: 209–219.

22. Riasi, A., M. Danesh Mesgaran, M. D. Stern, and M. J. Ruiz Moreno. 2012. Effects of two halophytic plants (Kochia and Atriplex) on digestibility, fermentation and protein synthesis by ruminal microbes maintained in continuous culture. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science, 25(5): 642-647.

23. Sherrod, L. B. 1973. Nutritive value of Kochia scoparia III. Digestibility of Kochia hay compared with alfalfa hay. Journal of Dairy Science, 56: 923–926.

24. Swingle, R. S., E. P. Glenn, and Squires, V. R. 1996. Growth performance of lambs fed mixed diets containing halophyte ingredients. Animal Feed Science and Technology 63: 137–148.

25. Towhidi, A., T. Saberifar, and E. Dirandeh. 2011. Nutritive value of some herbage for dromedary camels in the central arid zone of Iran. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 43: 617–622.

26. Van Soest, P. J., J. B. Robertson, and B. A. Lewis. 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science, 74: 3583–3597.

27. Van Soest, P. J. 1994. Nutritional Ecology of the Ruminant, second edition, Comstock Publishing Associates/Cornell University Press, Ithaca/NY, USA.

28. Wanderley, R. C., J. T. Huber, Z. Wu, M. Pessarakli, and Jr. C. Fontes. 1993. Influence of microbial colonization of feed particles on determination of nitrogen degradability by in situ incubation. Journal of Animal Science, 71: 3073–3077.

29. Yan, T., and R. E. Agnew. 2004 Prediction of nutritive values in grass silages: II. Degradability of nitrogen and dry matter using digestibility, chemical composition, and fermentation data. Journal of Animal Science, 82: 1380–1391.