This study aimed to investigate the effect of Liriope platyphylla and organic acids on enteric methane mitigation in goats using an open-circuit simplified respiration chamber system. Methane recovery was evaluated by injecting 3% standard methane gas for 30 min at 3 L/min. The percentage of methane recovery from the four chambers was 99±5.4%. Following the recovery test, an animal experiment was conducted using eight castrated Boer goats (body weight 46.6±7.77 kg) using a 2×2 crossover design. Experimental diets were as follows: 1) Control (CON), commercial concentrate and tall fescue, and 2) Treatment (MIX), concentrate supplemented with L. platyphylla and organic acids and tall fescue. Goats were offered feed at 2% of body weight (dry matter basis) in equal portions twice daily at 8:00 and 15:30. The goats were adapted to the feed and methane chamber for 10 and 3 days, respectively. Methane emission was measured one day per goat using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy, and temperature and airflow measurements were used to estimate methane emissions. Dry matter intake (DMI), body weight, and methane emission were measured during each period. Methane production with CON and MIX was 24.48 and 22.68 g/d, respectively, and 26.81 and 24.83 g/kg DMI, respectively. Although the differences were not significant, the use of supplements resulted in a numerical reduction in methane in MIX compared with CON. Collaboration with experts in other areas, including various engineering departments, is imperative to measure methane emissions using a chamber system accurately.

A laboratory-scale experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing commonly used effective microorganisms on the chemical properties of swine liquid manure. Effective microorganisms used in this study were Bacillus subtilis (1.3×109 colony-forming unit (CFU)/ml), Enterococcus faecium (1.9×1010 CFU/ml), Aspergillus oryzae (2.0×109 CFU/ml), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (6.4×109 CFU/ml), Rhodobacter sphaeroides (1.2×108 CFU/ml), and Streptomyces griseus (6.2×108 CFU/ml). Swine liquid manure collected and decanted from a swine farm was used in this study. Treatments included control (distilled water supplementation), Treatment 1 (T1) (mixed microbes, 109 CFU/ml), and Treatment 2 (T2) (mixed microbes, 107 CFU/ml). Microbial mix was supplemented every 3.5 days and aerated six times (15 min each) a day to facilitate compositing. Ten ml of sample was collected at 2-, 4-, 6-, and 7-week intervals for the measurement of pH, ammonia-N, volatile fatty acid (VFA), total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total potassium. At seven weeks, samples were further collected to analyze biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Ammonia-N was significantly (p<0.05) decreased in T1 and T2 by 36% and 30%, respectively, compared with control (23%). VFAs including butyrate, iso-butyrate, valerate, iso-valerate, and caproate were not detected in T1 from the four-week aerated sample. The BOD and COD were significantly (p<0.05) decreased in T1 by 96% and 58%, respectively. In conclusion, ammonia-N, VFA, BOD, and COD, known as odor indicators, were decreased in T1 and T2 compared with control, suggesting that effective microorganisms are useful for compositing swine liquid manure

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of rumen origin lactate-utilizing bacteria (LUB) as one of the potential treatments on subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) during in vitro challenge compared to buffering agents (NaHCO3, sea minerals, MgO) and direct-fed microorganism (yeast). We hypothesized that rumen LUB (RLUB) could be a potential treatment to treat ruminal acidosis. The supplementation level of other treatments was determined by referring to previous studies in the literature. The 108 CFU/g freeze-dried RLUB isolated from Hanwoo cattle were compared with 0.1% NaHCO3, 0.8% of MgO, 0.5% sea mineral and 0.4% yeast during in vitro SARA challenge. Rumen fluid collected from one cannulated Holstein and one Hanwoo steer fed by maize silage was mixed with 0.5g feed consisted of 0.05g forage and 0.45g concentrate. These mixtures were incubated in triplication for 3, 6, 12 and 24h. After 6h of incubation, along with MgO and sea minerals, RLUB treatment showed higher (p<0.05) ㏗ values than control with no significant differences in total volatile fatty acid concentration. However, in the same period, the propionate concentration and A:P ratio were higher in RLUB than in the other treatment (p<0.05), which might alter the fermentation pattern. On the other hand, the RLUB treatment produced a higher (p<0.05) ammonia-N concentration. Based on these results, we can conclude that RLUB might have the potential to alleviate SARA. Nonetheless, further study on its mechanism in SARA is required, especially with live animals.