1 Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
2 Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge, Canada.
3 Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX)-treated wheat straw pellets and a recombinant fibrolytic enzyme on the rumen microbiome, rumen fermentation parameters, total tract diet digestibility, and performance of lambs. Eight rumen cannulated wethers and 60 lambs (n = 15 per diet, 8 rams and 7 ewes) were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design digestibility study and a complete randomized growth performance study, respectively. Four treatment diets were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial structure with AFEX wheat straw (0% or 30% AFEX straw pellets on a dietary DM basis replacing alfalfa hay pellets) and fibrolytic enzyme (with or without XYL10C, a ß-1,4-xylanase, from Aspergillus niger) as main factors. Enzyme was applied at 100 mg/kg of diet DM, 22 h before feeding. Rumen bacteria diversity Pielou evenness decreased (P = 0.05) with AFEX compared with the control diet and increased (P < 0.01) with enzyme. Enzyme increased (P = 0.02) the relative abundancies of Prevotellaceae UCG-004, Christensenellaceae R-7 group, Saccharofermentans, and uncultured Kiritimatiellaeota. Total protozoa counts were greater (P = 0.04) in the rumen of lambs fed AFEX compared with control, with enzyme reducing (P = 0.05) protozoa counts for both diets. Digestibility of DM did not differ (P > 0.10) among diets, but digestibility of CP was reduced (P = 0.001), and digestibility of NDF and ADF increased (P < 0.05) as AFEX replaced alfalfa. Compared with control, AFEX promoted greater DMI (P = 0.003) and improved ADG up to 42 d on feed (P = 0.03), but not (P = 0.51) over the full ~94-d experiment. Consequently, overall G:F was reduced (P = 0.04) for AFEX when compared with control (0.188 vs. 0.199), but days on feed were lower (P = 0.04) for AFEX (97 vs. 91 d). Enzyme improved DMI of AFEX up to day 70 (P = 0.01), but did not affect DMI of the control diet. Enzyme addition improved ADG of lambs fed both diets in the first 28 d (P = 0.02), but not over the entire feeding period (P = 10). As a result, G:F was improved with enzyme for the first 28 d (P = 0.04), but not overall (P = 0.45). This study shows that AFEX-treated wheat straw can replace alfalfa hay with no loss in lamb growth performance. Additionally, the enzyme XYL10C altered the rumen microbiome and improved G:F in the first month of the feeding.

PMID: 32369600 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]