Effect of feeding tannin degrading bacteria (Isolate-6) on rumen fermentation, nutrient utilization and growth performance of goats fed on Ficus infectoria leaves

To study the effect of supplementation of tannin degrading bacteria (Isolate-6) on growth performance, nutrient utilization, microbial profile and rumen fermentation of goats fed on pakar (Ficus infectoria) leaves, two feeding trials were conducted. For growth study eighteen male kids (three months old, average body weight 9.92 ± 1.09 kg) were distributed into three groups of six animals each and for rumen fermentation study, nine male goats of 8-9 months old with average body weight of 15.10 ± 2.13 kg were distributed into three groups of three animals each. The animals of group 1 served as control while animals of groups 2 and 3 were given 20 ml of autoclaved and live culture of Isolate-6 (105 to 07 cells/ml), respectively. The animals were fed ad libitum green pakar leaves and wheat straw along with concentrate mixture. The concentrate level was adjusted in such a way that proportion of concentrate intake did not exceed 50% of total DMI and thus the concentrate:roughage ratio was maintained as 1:1. The feeding of live culture of Isolate-6 (direct fed microbials, DFMs) did not show any effect on the rumen fermentation pattern viz. pH, production of ammonia nitrogen, trichloroacetic acid precipitable nitrogen, and activities of carboxymethyl cellulase, xylanase, avicelase and protease. The population of rumen protozoa, total bacteria and fungi were similar in all the three groups, whereas, tannin degrading/tolerating bacteria were higher in group 3 due to feeding of DFM. The dry matter intake and digestibility of nutrients were also not influenced by feeding of DFM. The average live weight gain and feed conversion efficiency were also not affected due to the feeding of DFM to the kids fed on pakar leaves as the main roughage source. The feeding of Isolate-6 has not exerted any effect on the nutrient utilization, rumen fermentation or growth performance in goats.