Abstract #T384

# T384
In vitro ruminal metabolism of a lactation dairy diet supplemented with virgin coconut oil and pine bark extract in continuous cultures.
S. Y. Yang*1, R. W. S. Ningrat2, K. Neal1, B. R. Min3, J.-S. Eun1, 1Department of Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 2Faculty of Animal Sciences, Andalas University, Padang, Indonesia, 3Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL.

The present study investigated effects of virgin coconut oil (VCO; 7.0% C8:0, 5.4% C10:0, 48.9% C12:0, and 20.2% C14:0) and pine bark extract (PBE; 75% condensed tannins), either separately or in combination as supplements to a lactation dairy diet on in vitro ruminal fermentation profiles. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with 4 independent runs of continuous cultures. Four dietary treatments included: 1) control (CONT; TMR without supplement), 2) TMR with 3% VCO (VCOT), 3) TMR with 3% PBE (PBET), and 4) TMR with 3% VCO and 3% PBE (VPT). Each culture of 700-mL working volume fermentation content was offered a diet of 20 g DM/d in 2 equal portions at 0800 and 2000 h. The data in this study were analyzed using the Proc Mixed procedure of SAS using a model that included fixed effect of dietary treatments (CONT, VCOT, PBET, and VPT) and a random effect of fermentor within independent run. Culture pH was maintained at least at 6.13 across dietary treatments, and supplementing VCO and/or PBE did not influence culture pH. Total VFA concentration was similar in response to the supplements. Supplementation of VCO decreased acetate proportion, but did not affect propionate proportion, resulting in a tendency to decrease acetate-to-propionate ratio (P = 0.10). In contrast, PBE supplementation increased acetate proportion, while it did not influence propionate proportion, leading to a tendency to increase acetate-to-propionate ratio (P = 0.10). Cultures offered VCOT and VPT increased butyrate proportion (P = 0.01). Supplementing PBE decreased (P < 0.01) ammonia-N concentration both in PBET and VPT, whereas VCO supplementation resulted in no effect on ammonia-N concentration. Cultures offered VCO and PBE supplementation, either separately or in combination, showed no response on methane production, although feeding VCOT numerically decreased methane production by 13.5% compared with CONT. The decrease in ammonia-N concentration when PBE-containing diets (PBET and VPT) were offered is likely attributed to condensed tannins in PBE; however, their concentration would not be enough to lessen ruminal methanogenesis. In addition, the concentration of VCO used in this study may have not been enough to manipulate ruminal fermentation.

Key Words: continuous culture, pine bark extract, virgin coconut oil