Can dietary fermented total mixed ration additives biological and chemical improve digestibility, performance, and rumen fermentation in ruminants?

Abstract

The quantity and quality of animal feed are important factors for efficient and profitable animal farming. Feed ingredients and supplementation with high-density energy and nitrogen would be potentially useful on the farm. The new approach to feeding has shifted from animal-based diets to more readily fermentable feedstuffs in ruminants to meet the increased production of high-yielding animals. These methods encourage the use of fermented total mixed ration (FTMR). An advantage of feeding FTMR as opposed to total mixed ration (TMR) is the opportunity for a development alternative to efficiently handle ruminant diets. FTMR is a method to promote progressive nutrient utilization, extend the preservation of feed by preventing spoilage, and reduce anti-nutritive substances in feeds. Ruminal protein and starch degradability were increased due to proteolysis during storage by ruminants fed ensiled rations. The results found that FTMR can reduce the pH level and increase the lactic acid content of ensiled materials, which results in better quality feed and longer storage times. In addition, it can increase dry matter intake, growth rate, and milk production when compared with TMR. It was shown that the use of FTMR diet was effective for animal production. However, FTMR was rapidly spoiled when exposed to air or feed-out, particularly in hot and humid climates, resulting in a decrease in lactic acid concentration, an increase in pH, and the loss of nutrients. Thus, the appropriate method for enhancing the quality of FTMR should be considered.

Keywords:

• Ruminant
• fermented total mixed ration
• feed utilization efficiency
• rumen fermentation
• ruminant production

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express our sincere thanks to the Tropical Feed Resources Research and Development Center (TROFREC), Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University (KKU) for the use of their material facilities.

Ethical approval

The authors confirm that the ethical policies of the journal, as noted on the journal’s author guidelines page, have been adhered to. No ethical approval was required as this is a review article with no original research data.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research Program on the Research and Development of Winged Bean Root Utilization as Ruminant Feed, the Increase Production Efficiency and Meat Quality of Native Beef and Buffalo Research Group, KKU and Thailand Research Fund (TRF) through the 19th Royal Golden Jubilee PhD Program (contact grant PhD/0067/2559).