Effect of non fiber carbohydrates on in vitro first order kinetics disappearance of cellulose

An in vitro experiment was conducted to determine the effect of supplemental non fiber carbohydrate (NFC) on the disappearance kinetics of cellulose (Ce) by mixed ruminal microorganisms. Non supplemented or NFC supplemented cellulose (467 mg NFC/g cellulose as sucrose (CeSu) or starch (CeSt) or a 1:1 mixture of sucrose + starch (CeSuSt)) were incubated for 24, 48, and 96 h at 39°C. After each incubation time, pH, ammonia N concentration and cellulose disappearance were measured. The disappearance kinetics rate of all sles was determined using first order exponential model of D(t) = D(i).exp ( k. time) + I where D(t) is potentially digestible fraction D(i) is potentially digestible residues k is digestion rate of cellulose (h^ 1) and I is indigestible fraction. In this experiment, inclusion of NFC to the rumen fluid medium resulted in a significant depression (P 0.01) in the extent of cellulose disappearance. The disappearance rate constant of cellulose was significantly higher (P 0.05) in non supplemented sles as compared with those treatments containing NFC. The indigestible fraction of cellulose was significantly higher (P 0.05) for treatments containing sucrose or sucrose + starch as the source of supplemental NFC as compared with nonsupplemented cellulose. However, when starch was added, the indigestible fraction of cellulose was similar to those of non supplemented sles. The inclusion of NFC resulted in a significant reduction (P 0.01) in pH of the medium, but had no significant effect (P 0.05) on ammonia N concentration.