Effects of Phytoecdysteroids (PEDS) Extracted from Cyanotis arachnoidea on Rumen Fermentation, Enzyme Activity and Microbial Efficiency in a Continuous-Culture System

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 15;11(4):e0153584. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153584. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementation of phytoecdysteroids (PEDS) extracted from Cyanotis arachnoidea on rumen fermentation, enzymes activity and microbial efficiency in a dual flow continuous-culture system. A single-factor experimental design was used with twelve fermenters in 4 groups with 3 replicates each. Fermenters were incubated for a total of 7 days that included first 4 days for adaptation and last 3 days for sampling. PEDS was added at levels of zero (as control), 5, 10, and 15 mg/g of the substrate (DM). The results showed that increasing supplementation levels of PEDS resulted in incremental digestibility of dry matter (DMD) (quadratic, P = 0.001) and organic matter (OMD) (quadratic, P = 0.031), but unchanged digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDFD), crude protein (CPD) and acid detergent acid (ADFD). As supplementation levels of PEDS increased, there were decreased response in the concentration of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) (linear, P = 0.015) and increased response in molar proportions of butyrate (linear, P = 0.004), but unchanged response in total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) and the molar proportion of acetate and propionate, respectively. Increasing PEDS supplementation levels decreased the ratio of acetate to propionate (linear, P = 0.038), suggesting an alteration of rumen fermentation pattern occurring due to PEDS supplementation in the diet. Supplementation of PEDS significantly increased activities of glutamate dehydrogenase (quadratic, P = 0.001), alanine dehydrogenase (quadratic, P = 0.004), glutamate synthase (linear, P = 0.038), glutamine synthetase (quadratic, P = 0.011), respectively. There were no discernible differences in the activity of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCase), xylanase and protease regardless of the treatments. The daily production of microbial nitrogen (linear, P = 0.002) and microbial efficiency (MOEEF) (linear, P = 0.001) increased linearly as supplementation levels of PEDS increased. The decreased response of fluid NH3-N and the increased response of MN indicated that PEDS positively increased the synthesis of microbial proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animal Feed
  • Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / drug effects
  • Animals
  • Bacteria / cytology
  • Bacteria / drug effects
  • Bacteria / metabolism*
  • Bioreactors / microbiology
  • Cattle
  • Commelinaceae / chemistry*
  • Culture Techniques / methods*
  • Ecdysteroids / isolation & purification
  • Ecdysteroids / pharmacology*
  • Enzymes / metabolism*
  • Fermentation / drug effects*
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / drug effects
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / physiology
  • Phytosterols / isolation & purification
  • Phytosterols / pharmacology
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Rumen / drug effects
  • Rumen / metabolism*
  • Rumen / microbiology

Substances

  • Ecdysteroids
  • Enzymes
  • Phytosterols
  • Plant Extracts

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.31172231) and the website is: http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/. The corresponding author LPR host the program. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.