Influence of processing method of rumen contents on microbial populations in the inoculum and in vitro fermentation of substrates of variable composition

The in vitro batch culture technique is being increasingly used to study rumen fermentation, but the results are affected by several factors, being the source of the inoculum one of the most relevant. This work was conducted to assess the effects of different processing methods of ruminal contents on microbial populations in the obtained fluid, and its influence on fermentation parameters when the fluid was used as inoculum for in vitro incubations. Rumen contents were obtained from four rumen-fistulated sheep fed a 2:1 alfalfa hay:concentrate diet and subjected to the following treatments: SQ: squeezed through four layers of cheesecloth; FL: SQ treatment and further filtration through a 100-μm nylon cloth; STO: blended for three min at 230 rev min−1 in a Stomacher® and further filtrations as in SQ. Microbial populations’ abundance and bacterial diversity in the ruminal fluids were analysed by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA), respectively. Three forages (alfalfa hay, grass hay and barley straw) were incubated in vitro, either alone or mixed with concentrate (1:1), using each of the ruminal fluids as inoculum. There were no differences between SQ and FL methods in any of the microbial populations analysed, but STO increased the relative abundance of Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus albus (P 0.05) by the processing methods. There were no interactions (P > 0.05) between the processing method and the characteristics of the substrates for any of the fermentation parameters analysed. Compared with SQ, the STO method resulted in greater (P < 0.05) methane production and ammonia-N concentrations in 8 h incubations. After 24 h of incubation, the use of STO inoculum increased (P < 0.05) methane production and dry matter degradability compared with SQ, with no differences in the rest of the parameters. No differences between SQ and FL methods were detected in any parameter. The results show that stomaching the rumen contents prior to inoculation of in vitro cultures modified some microbial populations, but had only subtle effects on fermentation parameters

Constraints on the CMB temperature evolution using multiband measurements of the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect with the South Pole Telescope

The adiabatic evolution of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a key prediction of standard cosmology. We study deviations from the expected adiabatic evolution of the CMB temperature of the form T(z) = T_0(1 + z)^(1 − α) using measurements of the spectrum of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect with the South Pole Telescope (SPT). We present a method for using the ratio of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich signal measured at 95 and 150 GHz in the SPT data to constrain the temperature of the CMB. We demonstrate that this approach provides unbiased results using mock observations of clusters from a new set of hydrodynamical simulations. We apply this method to a sample of 158 SPT-selected clusters, spanning the redshift range 0.05 < z < 1.35, and measure α=0.017^(+0.030)_(−0.028), consistent with the standard model prediction of α = 0. In combination with other published results, we find α = 0.005 ± 0.012, an improvement of ∼10 per cent over published constraints. This measurement also provides a strong constraint on the effective equation of state in models of decaying dark energy w_(eff) = −0.994 ± 0.010

Comparison of fermentation characteristics and bacterial diversity in the rumen of sheep and batch cultures of rumen microorganisms

The objective of the current study was to assess how closely batch cultures (BC) of rumen microorganisms can mimic the dietary differences in fermentation characteristics found in the rumen, and to analyse changes in bacterial diversity over the in vitro incubation period. Four ruminally and duodenally cannulated sheep were fed four diets having forage : concentrate ratios (FCR) of 70 : 30 or 30 : 70, with either alfalfa hay or grass hay as forage. Rumen fluid from each sheep was used to inoculate BC containing the same diet fed to the donor sheep, and the main rumen fermentation parameters were determined after 24 h of incubation. There were differences between BC and sheep in the magnitude of most measured parameters, but BC detected differences among diets due to forage type similar to those found in sheep. In contrast, BC did not reproduce the dietary differences due to FCR found in sheep for pH, degradability of neutral detergent fibre and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations. There were differences between systems in the magnitude of most determined parameters and BC showed higher pH values and NH3–N concentrations, but lower fibre degradability and VFA and lactate concentrations compared with sheep. There were significant relationships between in vivo and in vitro values for molar proportions of acetate, propionate and butyrate, and the acetate : propionate ratio. The automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) of 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid showed that FCR had no effect on bacterial diversity either in the sheep rumen fluid used as inoculum (IN) or in BC samples. In contrast, bacterial diversity was greater with alfalfa hay diets than those with grass hay in the IN, but was unaffected by forage type in the BC. Similarity index between the bacterial communities in the inocula and those in the BC ranged from 67·2 to 74·7%, and was unaffected by diet characteristics. Bacterial diversity was lower in BC than in the inocula with 14 peaks out of a total of 181 detected in the ARISA electropherograms never appearing in BC samples, which suggests that incubation conditions in the BC may have caused a selection of some bacterial strains. However, each BC sample showed the highest similarity index with its corresponding rumen IN, which highlights the importance of using rumen fluid from donors fed a diet similar to that being incubated in BC when conducting in vitro experiments

Influence of the meteorological record length on the generation of representative weather files

Heat and moisture (HM) transfer simulations of building envelopes and whole building energy simulations require adequate weather files. The common approach is to use weather data of reference years constructed from meteorological records. The weather record affects the capability of representing the real weather of the resulting reference years. In this paper the problem of the influence of the length of the records on the representativeness of the reference years is addressed and its effects are evaluated also for the applicative case of the moisture accumulation risk analysis with the Glaser Method and with DELPHIN 6, confirming that records shorter than 10 years could lead to less representative reference years. On the other hand, it is shown that reference years obtained from longer periods are not representative of the most recent years, which present higher dry-bulb air temperatures due to a short-term climate change effect observed in all the considered weather records. An alternative representative year (Moisture Representative Year) to be used in building energy simulations with a strong dependence on moisture is presented

A bottom-up methodology for buildings energy demand calculation to support grid based energy systems in urban areas

The aim of the project IDEE is the development of a standard and shared procedure to support the evaluation of the better network energy system – based on centralized renewable energy plants or on heat recovered from energy loss – to be adopted at urban scale. The choice of the best solutions is affected by three main aspects: energy demand (amount of energy to be delivered to the buildings); energy supply (amount of energy that is possible to be recovered from industrial areas or centralized renewable energy power plants); district heating network configuration (distance from supply point to buildings, shape of network, …). In this paper, the focus is on the definition of a methodology and relative protocols for the calculation of energy demand of all buildings of a given urban environment

Perspectivas y retos de los extractos vegetales como aditivos alimentarios en rumiantes

Algunas plantas producen y almacenan compuestos secundarios que ejercen actividades beneficiosas en el organismo humano y animal. En lo que se refiere a su uso en alimentación animal, constituyen una alternativa natural a los aditivos antibióticos promotores del crecimiento, cuyo uso en rumiantes se ha centrado fundamentalmente en sus efectos sobre la fermentación rumial

Presente y perspectivas de futuro en la UE del empleo de probióticos en la alimentación de rumiantes

En este artículo se describe, en primer lugar, la situación legal actual de los probióticos como aditivos en la alimentación de los animales rumiantes en la Unión Europea (UE). A continuación se repasan sus mecanismos de acción, considerando especialmente los últimos avances científicos en referencia a sus acciones sobre las poblaciones microbianas ruminales, y se analizan los factores que influyen en la respuesta de los animales a la administración de estos aditivos. Finalmente, se detallan brevemente las perspectivas de futuro de los probióticos en el ámbito de la ganadería de rumiantes europea

Evolución temporal de las comunidades microbianas ruminales y los parámetros fermentativos en fermentadores Rusitec

Los fermentadores Rusitec (Czerkawski y Breckenridge, 1977) son uno de los tipos de fermentadores más ampliamente utilizados para simular in vitro la fermentación ruminal y permiten realizar estudios de larga duración (semanas). Sin embargo, debido a la prolongada extensión en el tiempo de este tipo de estudios se producen cambios cuantitativos y cualitativos en las poblaciones de microorganismos. Existen algunos estudios que han puesto de manifiesto la disminución de la población de protozoos a lo largo del período de incubación (Carro et al., 1995; Martínez et al., 2011), pero no existe información sobre otras poblaciones microbianas, a pesar de que uno de los requisitos que deberían cumplir los sistemas in vitro es mantener poblaciones microbianas representativas de las existentes en el rumen de los animales. Por ello, el objetivo del presente trabajo fue estudiar la evolución en el tiempo de la abundancia de bacterias, hongos, protozoos y arqueas, así como de los parámetros ruminales en fermentadores Rusitec