The effect of particle size on the in vitro fermentation of different ratios of high-temperature dried lucerne and sugar beet pulp incubated with equine faecal inocula

Abstract

An in vitro gas production technique, where equine faeces was the source of microbial inoculum, was used to determine the effect of particle size (ground vs. unground) on the in vitro fermentation of high-temperature dried lucerne (L) and molassed sugar beet pulp (SB). Two experiments were conducted; in experiment 1, unprocessed (U) L and SB or ground L and SB (G; to pass through a 1 mm dry mesh screen) were mixed in the following ratios: 100:0, 90:10, 80:20 and 70:30, L and SB, respectively. In experiment 2, unprocessed L or ground L, and ground SB were mixed in the following ratios: 100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, 20:80 and 0:100, L and SB, respectively. Substrate combinations were fermented in vitro with equine faecal inocula using in vitro gas production (GP). In both experiments, total gas pool was unaffected by particle size. Conversely, mathematical analysis of the cumulative gas production curves showed significantly different rates of fermentation in bottles containing ground substrates compared to unprocessed feedstuffs (P