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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #339375
Research Project: Ecological Reservoirs and Intervention Strategies to Reduce Foodborne Pathogens in Cattle and Swine

Location: Food and Feed Safety Research

Title: Comparison of select rumen anti-methanogenic and anti-listerial compounds in vitro

Author
item BOZIC, ALEZANDAR - University Of Novi Sad
item Anderson, Robin
item Callaway, Todd
item Nisbet, David

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/18/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: New technologies are needed to help livestock producers maintain optimal health and well being of their animals while minimizing risks of propagating and disseminating antimicrobial resistant bacteria to humans or other animals. When possible, these technologies should improve production efficiency and profitability of animal production to avoid passing higher costs on to the consumer. The production of CH4 within the rumen results in the loss of 2-16% of the gross energy consumed by the host, costing the U.S. cattle feeding industry up to $900,000/day, and also contributes to the emission of this greenhouse gas. Presently, we compared the anti-methanogenic and anti-listerial effect of nitroethane (NE), 2-nitro-1-propanol (2NPOH), lauric acid, Lauricidin**R (a glycerol ester of lauric acid) and a dried powder product made from the marine algae, Chaetoceros, against Listeria monocytogenes, an important foodborne pathogen commonly found to inhabit the ruminant gastrointestinal tract. We found that when supplemented at 1, 1, 5, 5, or 10 mg/mL, respectively, to in vitro incubations (n = 3/treatment) of mixed populations of bovine ruminal microbes, CH4 production was decreased (P < 0.05) more than 78% compared to untreated controls (22.3 +/- 4.1 umol/mL incubation fluid). Accumulation of H2 was increased (P < 0.05) from that of controls (0.1 +/- 0.1 umol/mL) by NE only. Listeria concentrations after 6 or 24 h incubation were decreased more than 3.5 log10 CFU by lauric acid and Lauricidin**R, 2.8 log10 CFU by the algal product, but not by nitroethane- and 2NPOH when compared to concentrations in untreated controls, which ranged from 5.2 +/- 0.1 to 7.3 +/- 0.2 log10 CFU/mL. These results indicate that while the compounds exhibited similar CH4-inhibiting activity the potent anti-Listeria activity of lauric acid, Lauricidin**R, and the algal product may provide incentive for their use.