Ghazzawy Hesham S, Alqahtani Nashi K, Sheikh Abdullah, El Sayed Mohamed Shawky, Mathew Roshmon Thomas, Ali-Dinar Hassan M, El-Haroun Ehab, Abd-Elkarim Mohamed M A, Abdelnour Sameh A, Saleem Ali S A
Date Palm Research Center of Excellence, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences, College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Aug 18;12:1632447. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1632447. eCollection 2025.
Climate change poses a significant environmental challenge to all living organisms. Camels exhibit notable resilience to these changes. Concurrently, the date palm (), a widely cultivated plant in tropical and subtropical regions, generates substantial seed waste. Valorizing seed-derived biochar (PSB) to enhance feed supplements and mitigate environmental impacts presents a potentially sustainable and eco-friendly solution. This study investigated the potential of date palm seed-derived biochar as a sustainable feed additive for dromedary camels to reduce methane (CH₄) emissions and improve gas production, nutrient degradability, fermentation parameters, and performance predictions using models.
The PSB was synthesized and stored at 4°C until use. Ruminal fluids were collected from growing camels (24-36 months old) at the nutrition laboratory and subsequently incubated at 37°C. The basal diet was supplemented with PSB at 0, 1, 2, and 4%, and the resulting data were analyzed using polynomial analysis. Gas production, methane emissions, nutrient degradability, fermentation parameters, and performance predictions were assessed.
At 6, 12, and 36 hours of incubation, all levels of PSB biochar supplementation resulted in a significant linear increase in gas production ( < 0.05). The inclusion of PSB significantly reduced CH₄ emissions in a quadratic manner ( < 0.001). The lowest reduction in CH₄ production was observed at the 1% and 2% PSB inclusion levels, with a greater reduction at the 4% level (quadratic effect; < 0.001). A significant quadratic increase in TVFA production was observed with increasing PSB inclusion levels during the fermentation of camel diets (quadratic effect; < 0.01). Furthermore, pH values significantly decreased with biochar supplementation, exhibiting a linear trend with the lowest values at the 4% level, followed by 2% and 1% (linear effect; < 0.01). Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production was improved by the addition of PSB compared to the control diet in camels (quadratic effect; < 0.01). The inclusion of 1% or 2% PSB quadratically improved organic matter digestibility (%), metabolizable energy (DM), and net energy for lactation (NEL) in camels. Microbial crude protein (MCP) and purine derivatives (PD) were not significantly affected by PSB supplementation ( > 0.05).
In summary, the addition of PSB enhanced gas production, nutrient degradability, fermentation parameters, and performance predictions, while concurrently mitigating methane emissions . This study underscores the potential of utilizing PSB as a valuable feed supplement and a sustainable feed additive for dromedary camels in extensive production systems.
气候变化对所有生物构成了重大的环境挑战。骆驼对这些变化表现出显著的适应能力。同时，海枣是热带和亚热带地区广泛种植的植物，会产生大量种子废弃物。将海枣种子衍生生物炭（PSB）转化为有价值的物质，以增强饲料补充剂并减轻环境影响，是一种具有潜在可持续性和生态友好性的解决方案。本研究调查了海枣种子衍生生物炭作为单峰骆驼可持续饲料添加剂的潜力，以减少甲烷（CH₄）排放，并使用模型改善气体产生、养分降解率、发酵参数和性能预测。
合成PSB并储存在4°C下备用。在营养实验室从生长中的骆驼（24 - 36月龄）收集瘤胃液，随后在37°C下进行培养。基础日粮分别添加0%、1%、2%和4%的PSB，对所得数据进行多项式分析。评估气体产生、甲烷排放、养分降解率、发酵参数和性能预测。
在培养6、12和36小时时，所有添加PSB生物炭的水平均导致气体产生显著线性增加（P < 0.05）。添加PSB以二次曲线方式显著降低了CH₄排放（P < 0.001）。在PSB添加水平为1%和2%时，CH₄产量降低最少，在4%水平时降低幅度更大（二次曲线效应；P < 0.001）。在骆驼日粮发酵过程中，随着PSB添加水平的增加，总挥发性脂肪酸（TVFA）产量显著呈二次曲线增加（二次曲线效应；P < 0.01）。此外，添加生物炭后pH值显著降低，在4%水平时最低，其次是2%和1%，呈线性趋势（线性效应；P < 0.01）。与对照日粮相比，添加PSB提高了骆驼的短链脂肪酸（SCFA）产量（二次曲线效应；P < 0.01）。添加1%或2%的PSB以二次曲线方式提高了骆驼日粮中有机物消化率（%）、代谢能（DM）和泌乳净能（NEL）。补充PSB对微生物粗蛋白（MCP）和嘌呤衍生物（PD）没有显著影响（P > 0.05）。
总之，添加PSB提高了气体产生、养分降解率、发酵参数和性能预测，同时减少了甲烷排放。本研究强调了在粗放生产系统中利用PSB作为单峰骆驼有价值的饲料补充剂和可持续饲料添加剂的潜力。
