Vet World   Vol.15   January-2022  Article-6

Effect of barley straw and Egyptian clover hay on the rumen fermentation and structure and fibrolytic activities of rumen bacteria in dromedary camel

Background and Aim: Understanding the regulations of rumen microbiota and their fibrolytic capabilities under different forages are essential to improve rumen fermentation and animal feed efficiency. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in the rumen fermentation and the structure and fibrolytic activities of rumen bacteria in camels fed barley straw and Egyptian clover hay.

Materials and Methods: Three fistulated camels were fed a diet containing barley straw for 30 days; then transitioned to a diet containing Egyptian clover hay for 30 days. In addition, bacterial media enriched with xylan and different cellulose sources, namely, filter paper, wheat straw, and alfalfa hay, were used to evaluate the ability of camel rumen bacteria to produce xylanase and cellulase enzymes.

Results: The camel group fed Egyptian clover hay showed higher crude protein intake, rumen ammonia, total volatile fatty acids, and acetic acid. Moreover, the camel group fed barley straw showed higher neutral detergent fiber intake, rumen pH, and propionic and butyric acids. Principal component analysis showed that bacterial communities were separated based on the forage type. Forage type affected the composition of rumen bacteria and most of the bacterial community was assigned to phylum Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Egyptian clover hay diet increased the proportions of genus Prevotella and Ruminococcus; while fed barley straw diet increased the Butyrivibrio, RC9_gut_group, and Fibrobacteres. The bacterial culture of the Egyptian clover hay fed group produced the greatest xylanase and the bacterial culture of the barley straw fed group produced the maximum cellulase.

Conclusion: Egyptian clover hay is recommended to feed camels in intensive production. Moreover, the bacterial community in the camel rumen is a promising source of lignocellulolytic enzymes. Keywords: Camelus dromedaries, cellulase and xylanase, forage type, hay and straw, rumen bacteria.

Keywords: Camelus dromedaries, cellulase and xylanase, forage type, hay and straw, rumen bacteria.

How to cite this article: Rabee AE (2022) Effect of barley straw and Egyptian clover hay on the rumen fermentation and structure and fibrolytic activities of rumen bacteria in dromedary camel, Veterinary World, 15(1): 35-45.

Received: 28-09-2021  Accepted: 17-12-2021     Published online: 17-01-2022

Corresponding author: Alaa Emara Rabee   E-mail: rabee_a_m@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.35-45

Copyright: Rabee, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.