Effect of lasalocid sodium on rumen fermentation and digestion in sheep.

Four adult sheep were fed 4 diets successively according to a Latin-square design. They were fitted with a rumen cannula and with simple cannulae at the duodenum and ileum. The basal diet (L0) was composed of highly-pressed ensiled sugar beet pulp (56.2%), cereal (barley and corn: 27.6%), urea (1.5%) and wheat straw (14.1%). Lasalocid sodium was added to obtain the following respective amounts: 21 ppm for diet L1, 43 ppm for diet L2 and 64 ppm for diet L3 (table 1). In the rumen, lasalocid significantly increased the molar proportion of propionic acid in the volatile fatty acids (VFA) mixture at the expense of the acetic and butyric acid proportions. The total VFA concentration decreased, especially with 43 and 64 ppm (table 2). Accordingly, the proportion of methane in rumen gases decreased. The ciliate population was always lower in animals fed experimental diets L1, L2, and particularly L3. The non-food-particle-associated bacterial population also decreased; the differences were significant only with the highest doses of lasalocid (L3). At the same time, bacterial cellulolytic activity increased 10%, indicating that qualitative modifications had taken place in the rumen bacterial population (table 3). Overall digestive utilization of organic matter (OM) decreased when lasalocid was added to the diets. This was due to a considerable reduction in forestomach digestion (12% decrease) (table 4). A greater supply of OM rich in cell-wall carbohydrates in the duodenum would explain the lower digestibility in the small intestine of animals given diet L1 and especially the L2 and L3 diets. No significant shift in digestion was noted in the large intestine. The composition of the non-ammonia nitrogen that entered the duodenum of sheep given lasalocid differed from that noted with the control diet (L0) (table 5). The amount of microbial proteins was significantly lower, whilst the proportion of non-degraded feed proteins was higher. The efficiency of microbial synthesis (bacterial proteins/kg OM truly digested in the rumen) was not significantly modified by lasalocid. All these modifications in digestion observed with these diets, and resulting from changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of flora and fauna in the rumen, have an effect on nitrogen and energy utilization in the ruminant.