Early view

Oludotun Adelusi, Olatunde Oderinwale, Joel Alabi, Michael Wuaku, James Enikuomehin, Chika Anotaenwere, Deborah Okedoyin, Kelechi Ike, Ahmed Kholif, Kiran Subedi, Uchenna Anele

Abstract

This study evaluated gas production and nutrient digestibility of calf grower feed containing Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) incubated with postbiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus (PLA) and an essential oil blend (EOB). Eight treatments were arranged in a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement with two feeds (with or without LP) and four additives (no additive, PLA, EOB and PLA+EOB), with eight replicates per treatment (4 bottles per run across two independent incubation runs). Treatments were randomly assigned to incubation bottles within each run, and each bottle was considered an experimental unit. PLA and EOB were administered at 5 and 20 µL/g of substrate, respectively. An in-vitro batch culture was conducted for 24 h. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA. Results showed that EOB increased microbial mass, while the combination of LP, PLA and EOB improved the partitioning factor. LP and PLA increased total gas (P<0.05), whereas EOB alone or with PLA reduced methane production and increased hydrogen sulfide. Feed digestibility was largely unaffected, although EOB increased neutral detergent fiber digestibility and reduced total volatile fatty acid concentration (P=0.01). It is concluded that probiotic L. plantarum and postbiotic L. acidophilus supplementation enhanced total gas production, while EOB reduced methane emissions, and additive combinations improved microbial and fermentative efficiency.

Keywords

essential oil blend, postbiotic, probiotic, randomization, rumen fermentation

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