The Effect of Condensed Tannin and Saponin in Reducing Methane Produced during Rumen Digestion of Agricultural Byproducts

Abstract
Description
Saponin and tannin have been considered as chemical compounds that can reduce methane enteric fermentation. The magnitude of the effect of the compounds on reducing methane are various depend on the levels and sources of the compounds. Some local plants that contained high condensed tannin and saponin are Acacia leaves and Lerak fruit. Feed available for ruminants mostly come from agricultural and plantation byproducts that characterized by high NDF content and low digestibility that promote methane production. The aim of study was to investigate the effect of saponin and condensed tannin extracts in reducing methane resulted during rumen fermentation of rice straw, maize straw, sugarcane-top and palm oil leaves. The in vitro method was used to evaluate 24 feedtuffs that were  incubated for 48 hours. Saponin and condensed tannin extracts were added individually at the level of 2.5% of DM for each feed sample. Variables measured were chemical composition of feeds, total gas and methane production. Total cumulative gas of sugarcane-top and palm oil leaves fermentation increased when saponin (P<0.01) or condensed tannin (P<0.05) was added, but saponin or condensed tannin had no effect on  rice straw and maize straw. Due to saponin and condensed tannin, the proportion of methane to total gas was reduced by 16.41 and 17.36% for sugarcane-top, 4.75 and 11.20% for palm oil leaves, 4.26 and 6.38% for maize straw and 11.68 and 12.98% for rice straw, respectively. The conclusions are that the two agents can reduce methane produced during the rumen fermentation of feedstuffs, and the effect of saponin and condensed tannin was different among the feedstuffs investigated, the condensed tannin has bigger effect on reducing methane production than saponin.
Keywords
Saponin; Condensed Tannin; Methane; Agricultural Byproducts
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