Effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, medium and forage type and their interactions on in vitro ruminal fermentation

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a live yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077, at four doses (0, 1×10⁵, 1×10⁶ and 1 × 10⁷ cfu/mL) according to the reducing medium used [Goering-Van Soest (GV), McDougall (MD) or Kansas State (KS)] on in vitro ruminal neutral detergent fibre digestibility (NDFd), rate of digestion of NDF (kd), organic matter digestibility (OMd), dry matter digestibility (DMd), pH as well as volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration, using two forages (oat hay and wheat straw) with differing chemical composition. The maximum in vitro NDFd, DMd, OMd as well as kd were obtained with dose 1 × 10⁶ cfu/mL, although differences between doses were not always significant. The pH estimates were the lowest with the 1 × 10⁷ cfu/mL dose, but the differences were not all significant; however, 1 × 10⁷ cfu/mL corresponded to significantly lower pH estimates compared to the control and 1×10⁵ (6.51 vs. 6.60 and 6.59, respectively). The decrease in pH was accompanied by an increase in VFA concentrations as the yeast dose increased. The KS medium resulted in the lowest digestibility estimates, pH estimates as well as kd, regardless of yeast dose. The 1 × 10⁶ cfu/mL was the better performing yeast dose in vitro resulting in higher digestibility estimates which indicates the yeasts ability to stimulate the microorganisms within the rumen by beneficially modifying rumen environment, thus promoting microbiota activity. The MD and GV media provide better environments for fermentation than the KS medium, resulting in higher in vitro NDFd, DMd, OMd, pH estimates as well as rate of NDF digestion. The MD and GV are also the media that resulted in more consistent results when analysing the effects of the live yeast. Our data suggest that the in vitro conditions have to be carefully chosen to be able to demonstrate rumen fermentation shifts with the use of live microbial additives.