Two experiments were conducted to examine the use of peppermint leaves and cinnamon oil on methane production and apparent ruminal digestibility. In experiment 1, 12 jars were utilized in a completely randomized design to conduct three separate 24 hour batch culture experiments. The objective of the batch culture experiments was to examine the effects of the selected natural supplements on methane production. For the first batch culture, jars were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: 1) control diet (CON); 2) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 3% of the diet (PEP3); 3) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 6% of the diet (PEP6); or 4) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 12% of the diet (PEP12). The addition of the peppermint leaves increased (P = 0.004) oxygen and tended to increase (P = 0.10) nitrogen gas, but had no significant (P ≥ 0.15) effect on methane production. For the second batch culture, jars were randomly assigned to one of the folloiwng treatments: 1) control diet (CON); 2) CON plus the addition of cinnamon oil at 125 mg/L (CIN 125); 3) CON plus the addition of cinnamon oil at 250 mg/L (CIN250); or 4) CON plus the addition of cinnamon oil at 500 mg/L (CIN500). Cinnamon oil decreased (P = 0.002) methane production when added at 500 mg/L which also decreased (P = 0.001) total gas production compared to the other treatments. For the final batch culture, jars were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: 1) control diet (CON); 2) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 3% of the diet and cinnamon oil at 125 mg/L (3:125); 3) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 3% of the diet and cinnamon oil at 250 mg/L (3:250); or 4) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 6% of the diet and cinnamon oil at 125 mg/L (6:125). The addition of the peppermint leaves at 6% of the diet and cinnamon oil at 125 mg/L significantly decreased nitrogen (P = 0.05) and methane (P = 0.0001) gas production compared to CON and 3:250 treatment. Based on the results of the three batch cultures, experiment 2 utilized four dual-flow continuous fermenters in a Latin Square design to examine the effects of the selected natural supplements on apparent ruminal digestibility and ruminal characteristics. Fermenters were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: 1) control diet (CON); 2) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 3% of the diet (PEP3); 3) CON plus the addition of cinnamon oil at 500 mg/L (CIN500); or 4) CON plus the addition of peppermint leaves at 6% of the diet and cinnamon oil at 125 mg/L (COMBO). Treatments for experiment 2 had no effect (P ≥ 0.17) on apparent ruminal digestibility of nutrients. There was no significant difference (P ≥ 0.09) in total or individual VFA concentrations, suggesting that the use of peppermint leaves, cinnamon oil, or a combination of the two has no adverse effects on apparent ruminal digestibility. Feeding ruminants a natural supplement such as cinnamon oil, peppermint leaves, or a combination could potentially reduce GHG production when feeding a low-quality, forage based diet.

Submitted by Alison Vanceto (alison-vanceto@hotmail.com) on 2017-05-09T12:45:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCCTC.pdf: 2703284 bytes, checksum: d6c01b80e9f013e4e3f0004410ab32f9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-05-10T19:05:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCCTC.pdf: 2703284 bytes, checksum: d6c01b80e9f013e4e3f0004410ab32f9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-05-10T19:05:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCCTC.pdf: 2703284 bytes, checksum: d6c01b80e9f013e4e3f0004410ab32f9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-10T19:26:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCCTC.pdf: 2703284 bytes, checksum: d6c01b80e9f013e4e3f0004410ab32f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-29 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Supplementation with nonprotein nitrogen (NPN) has been widely used in ruminant feeding in diets of low quality forages. This is because these animals have a number of microorganisms in the rumen able to use ammonia for microbial protein production of excellent quality, ammonia is obtained through the action of urease enzyme on the nitrogenous products supplied in food, for example, urea. However, an excessive consumption of urea may result in poisoning by NH3. Thus, a controlled release of urea into the rumen is an essential aspect for ruminants feed, but few studies to control the release of urea in the rumen have been identified to date Thus this paper proposes obtaining nanocomposites montmorillonite and urea, formulated by the extrusion process, as a source of slow-release nonprotein nitrogen on the feed. The materials were characterized by diffraction of X-ray (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and elemental analysis (CHN). Also was studied the behavior solubilization in an aqueous medium of urea present in the nanocomposites. Characterization results can be observed that the montmorillonite exfoliation suffered in all nanocomposites, urea served as montmorillonite dispersed phase in a matrix. The release results showed that the presence of MMT acts as a barrier to release of urea making all nanocomposites have slower release of urea compared to the pure material In order to assess the effect of the use of such nanocomposites as non-protein nitrogen supplement for sugarcane (bulky), was carried out in vitro digestibility test for dry matter, which simulates the food digestion conditions in the rumen. Different nanocomposite showed gain on the digestibility of sugar cane, which is considered low quality forage, especially for presenting low protein value and be difficult to digest. The nanocomposite MMT/Ur 1:4/HG 2% was the most effective in increasing the digestibility of the sugar cane. The gain on digestibility was not very significant for displaying nanocomposites release kinetics urea very slowly, suggesting that an ideal release rate is required, being synchronized with the power supply supplied from the carbohydrate in the diet. The pH remained within the optimal range for urease activity, the enzyme responsible for metabolizing urea to ammonia and also for maximum microbial synthesis. These results show that the development of nanostructures is a powerful tool for increasing the efficiency of conventional fodder, and can serve as a basis for further in vivo testing. / A suplementação com nitrogênio não proteico (NNP) vem sendo muito utilizada na alimentação de ruminantes em dietas com volumosos de baixa qualidade. Isto porque estes animais possuem uma série de microrganismos no rumem capazes de utilizar amônia (NH3) para produção de proteína microbiana de excelente qualidade. Essa amônia utilizada pode ser obtida através da ação da enzima urease sobre os produtos nitrogenados fornecidos na alimentação, como por exemplo, a ureia. No entanto, um consumo excessivo de ureia pode resultar em intoxicação por NH3. Assim, uma liberação controlada de ureia no rúmen é um aspecto essencial na alimentação de ruminantes, porém poucos estudos relacionados ao controle da liberação de ureia no rúmen foram identificados até o momento. Com isso esse trabalho propõe a obtenção de nanocompósitos de montmorilonita e ureia com ou sem a adição de compostos poliméricos (paraformaldeido e hidrogel), formulados pelo processo de extrusão, como fonte de liberação lenta de nitrogênio não proteico sobre a alimentação animal. Os materiais foram caracterizados por Difratometria de raios-X (DRX), Microscopia eletrônica de Varredura (MEV), Análise termogravimétrica (TG) e Análise elementar (CHN). Estudou-se também o comportamento de solubilização em meio aquoso da ureia presente nos nanocompósitos. Dos resultados de caracterização pode-se observar que a montmorillonita sofreu intercalação em todos os nanocompósitos, a ureia atuou como fase dispersa em uma matriz de montmorilonita. Os resultados de liberação mostraram que a presença da MMT atua como barreira na liberação de ureia fazendo com que todos os nanocompositos tenham liberação mais lenta de ureia em relação ao material puro. A fim de avaliar o efeito da utilização desses nanocompósitos como suplemento de nitrogênio não proteico para a cana de açúcar, realizou-se o teste de digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca, para melhorar a digestibilidade da cana de açúcar. Diferentes nanocompósitos apresentaram ganho sobre a digestibilidade da cana de açúcar, que é considerada uma forragem de baixa qualidade, principalmente por apresentar baixo valor proteico e ser de difícil digestão. O nanocompósito MMT/Ur 1:4/HG foi o mais eficaz no aumento da digestibilidade da cana de açúcar. O incremento sobre a digestibilidade não foi muito expressivo para os nanocompósitos com liberação de ureia muito lenta, o que sugere que uma taxa de liberação ideal é necessária, esta idealidade estaria relacionada a sincronização de energia proveniente dos carboidratos ingeridos na dieta e a concentração de amônia disponível, uma vez que ambos são utilizados na síntese proteica e ambas influenciam na digestão dos alimentos. O valor de pH manteve-se dentro de uma faixa ideal para atividade da urease. Estes resultados mostram que o desenvolvimento de nanoestruturas é uma ferramenta poderosa para incrementar a eficiência de forragens convencionais, e pode servir como base para futuros ensaios in vivo.