Effects of condensed tannins in white clover flowers on their digestion in vitro

Protein in white clover (Trifolium repens L.) is poorly utilised by ruminants because of its extensive degradation to ammonia in the rumen. However, white clover produces condensed tannins (CT) in its flowers, which can reduce rumen proteolysis. Effects of increasing proportions of clover dry matter (DM) as flowers (and therefore floral CT) on soluble protein, ammonia and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations were determined with in vitro incubations. Minced mixtures of 0, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 g/kg of DM as white clover flower (F) with the remainder as white clover leaf, were incubated in vitro and sampled after 0, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h. Treatments contained 0, 13, 26, 39 and 52 g CT/kg DM, respectively. A further treatment with 500 g/kg DM as flower and 500 g/kg DM as leaf had polyethylene glycol added to remove effects of CT. Increasing the proportion of white clover as flowers from 0 to 1000 g/kg DM reduced net conversion of plant N to ammonia N from 290 to 120 mM/M at least partly due to reduced solubility of the protein. Treatments with 750 g/kg DM or more as clover flowers reduced ammonia concentrations to levels likely to limit microbial growth. Total VFA production was not affected by flower content, although the proportion of acetate to propionate increased. The contribution of CT to treatment effects was small compared to effects attributed to difference in chemical composition between flowers and leaves.