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The Dietary Supplemental Effect of Nitroethanol in Comparison with Monensin on Methane Emission, Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics in Female Lambs

Authors :
Zhen-Wei Zhang
Yan-Lu Wang
Yong-Yan Chen
Luo-Tong Zhang
Ying-Jie Zhang
Yue-Qin Liu
Yun-Xia Guo
Hong-Jian Yang
Source :
Animals, Vol 11, Iss 2, p 327 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the dietary supplemental effects of 2-nitroethanol (NEOH) in comparison with monensin on methane (CH4) emission, growth performance and carcass characteristics in female lambs. Sixty female, small-tailed Chinese Han lambs (3.5 ± 0.3 month) were randomly allotted into three dietary treatment groups: (1) Control group, a basal control diet, (2) monensin group, the basal diet added with 40 mg/kg monensin, (3) NEOH group, the basal diet added with 277 mg/kg nitroethanol, and the feedlotting trial lasted for 70 days. Although dietary addition of monensin and NEOH did not affect nutrient digestibility of lambs, both monensin and NEOH decreased the calculated CH4 production (12.7% vs. 17.4% decrease; p < 0.01). In addition, the CH4 production represents less dietary energy loss in the monensin and NEOH group than in the control, indicating that monensin and NEOH are potent CH4 inhibitors that can reduce dietary energy loss. Dietary addition of monensin and NEOH decreased dry matter intake (p < 0.01); however, they increased the ADG of female lambs (p < 0.01). As a result, both monensin and NEOH increased feed conversion efficiency of the feedlotting lambs (p < 0.01), suggesting that feed energy saved from CH4 production promoted the feed efficiency and ADG in the present study. Except for the fact that NEOH addition increased the net muscle percentage to carcass weight (p = 0.03), neither monensin nor NEOH had a significant influence on carcass characteristics of female lambs (p > 0.05). From an economic point of view, NEOH and monensin caused a reduction in feed consumption costs, therefore resulting in a higher net revenue and economic efficiency than the control. In summary, dietary supplementation of NEOH in comparison with monensin presented a more promoting effect on energy utilization in female lambs by inhibiting rumen methanogenesis more efficiently, and NEOH improved the net revenue and economic efficiency more significantly than monensin.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20762615
Volume :
11
Issue :
2
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Animals
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.10a68a42330a489088f94df23c4b8ed6
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020327