ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2016, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (12): 2420-2429.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2016.12.012

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The Effect of Long-term High-grain Feeding on Occurrence of Ruminal Acidosis in Goats

SUN Da-ming, MAO Sheng-yong, LIU Jun-hua*   

  1. (Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Microorganisms, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China)
  • Received:2016-05-09 Online:2016-12-23 Published:2016-12-23

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of long-term high-grain (HG) feeding on rumen environment, lipopolysaccharide concentration in jugular vein blood, and the occurrence of subacute ruminal acidosis in goats. Ten castrated male goats with rumen fistula were randomly fed with either a hay diet (0% grain; n = 5) or HG diet (65% grain; n = 5) with continuous feeding of 7 weeks. Weekly 0, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h after morning feeding, rumen fluid was collected to monitor the changes of pH in rumen. The rumen fluid collected at 0, 3, 6 and 12 h after morning feeding was used to determine volatile fatty acid concentration. The rumen fluid collected at 6 h after morning feeding was used to determine lipopolysaccharide concentration. At 6 h after morning feeding, the jugular vein blood was collected to measure the free lipopolysaccharide levels in peripheral blood. The results showed that, at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th weeks, the rumen pH below 5.8 lasted for more than 4 h within 12 h after morning feeding in HG-fed goats. The results suggested that, at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th weeks, the experimental subacute ruminal acidosis had been successfully induced by HG. Across the whole period, compared with hay feeding, HG feeding significantly decreased (P<0.05) the ruminal pH, acetate proportion, and acetate/propionate ratio, while significantly increased (P<0.05) ruminal propionate proportion, butyrate proportion, and free lipopolysaccharide concentration in rumen. The free lipopolysaccharide in the peripheral blood was not detectable in all hay-fed goats across the whole period. At the 1st and 2nd weeks, the free lipopolysaccharide level in the peripheral blood of HG-fed goats was not detectable. At 3rd and 4th weeks, the free lipopolysaccharide in the peripheral blood was detectable in some HG-fed individuals. At 5th, 6th and 7th weeks, the free lipopolysaccharide in the peripheral blood were detectable in all HG-fed goats. These results indicate that experimental subacute ruminal acidosis has been successfully induced by long-term HG diet feeding, and the incidence of subacute ruminal acidosis experienced the process of occurrence, adaptation and repeated occurrence.

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