Evaluation of lacticin addition on gas production kinetics and rumen methanogenesis in vitro

Abstract

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of a novel bacteriocin, i.e. lacticin 3147, on gas production kinetics and methane emission under in vitro rumen environment in two consecutive experiments. In experiment 1, either no or 10 μM of lacticin was added to hay or hay:concentrate (1:1, w/w) substrate. In experiment 2, the levels of lacticin additions were extended to 0, 10, 25 and 50 μM. Samples were incubated in three replicates in both experiments at 39oC for 24 h. Total gas production and methane emission were measured during and after the incubation, respectively. Results revealed that, in general, addition of lacticin had limited significant effects on gas production parameters compared to control (without lacticin addition). Lacticin addition up to 50 μM did not significantly decrease CH4 emission, although a tendency of methane reduction existed when lacticin was added at 25 μM. Hay diet produced significantly less methane emission than that of hay:concentrate diet both in experiment 1 and experiment 2 (P<0.05). It can be concluded that lacticin addition up to 50 μM was unable to decrease CH4 emission in vitro and therefore need to be tested further at higher concentrations.