Mesquite piperidine alkaloid extract levels in lamb diets change rumination rate and rumen microbial efficiency

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.9734824319062

• Palavras-chave: aditivo fitogênico, comportamento alimentar, eficiência microbiana, intensidade de ruminação, ionóforo, Prosopis juliflora

• Keywords: feeding behavior, ionophore, microbial efficiency, phytogenic additive, Prosopis juliflora, rumination intensity

• Abstract: The use of plant secondary compounds to modify rumen microbiome has an imperative effect on animal physiology. This study was realized to evaluate the effects of diets supplemented with enriched Prosopis juliflora (mesquite) piperidine alkaloid extract (MPA) levels (0, 2.3, 4.6, and 9.2 mg/kg of diet DM) compared to monensin (MON; 2.1 mg/kg DM) on feeding behavior, intake, digestibility and microbial protein synthesis in lambs. Five lambs with initial body weights of 21.05 ± 0.54 kg were allocated to metabolic cages and randomly distributed in a 5 × 5 Latin square design for 95 days, being 14 days of adaptation and 5 days of sampling in each experimental. The MPA levels showed a quadratic effect with a minimum point of 5 mg/kg for rumination rate of DM (P = 0.016) and NDF (P = 0.006) (g/h), which was higher than that of MON and the control diet. The NFC intake increased (P < 0.001) with MPA levels. The digestibility of DM and OM was higher (P = 0.017) for MON than control diet, not differing from MPA (P = 0.288; 0.260). Microbial protein synthesis (MPS) and efficiency were similar (P = 0.664; 0.668) between MON and MPA. MPA showed a dose-dependent effect on rumen digestion, whereby doses of 2.3 to 4.6 mg/kg decreased rumination chew and MPS, and the dose of 9.2 mg/kg caused the opposite effect of increasing rumination chew and MPS. The major concentration of MPA intensifies rumination with potential to increase efficiency of microbial protein synthesis.