Bacterial community during long-term in vitro rumen fermentation

Climate change leads to a higher frequency of droughts that adversely affect grassland and consequently diminishes the availability and quality of forages, such as grass silages. Mixed ensiling of drought-impaired grass with sugar beet pulp (SBP) can improve the conservation success and feed value, hence representing a promising coping strategy for farmers. The application of silage additives may further improve silage degradability in the rumen. The present study investigated the long-term in vitro rumen fermentation, bacterial community composition and nutrient degradabilities of diets including 50% of mixed silages from drought-impaired grass and SBP, prepared either with no additive (T_CON) or with anaerobic fungi culture supernatant (T_AF), mixed ruminal fluid (T_RF) or lactic acid bacteria (T_LAB). The study was conducted in the Rusitec system (Rumen simulation technique).