Effect of Coconut Oil and Sunflower Oil Ratio on Ruminal Fermentation, Rumen Microorganisms, N-balance and Digestibility in Cattle

Four, rumen-fistulated Holstein-Friesian steers were randomly assigned to four treatments according to a 4x4 Latin square design to study effects of coconut oil and sunflower oil ratio on rumen fermentation, rumen microorganisms and methane concentration in the rumen. The dietary treatments were ratios of coconut oil and sunflower oil at 100:0, 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75 for treatment 1-4, respectively. Steers were fed concentrate at 0.5% of BW (DM) and urea-treated rice straw was given ad libitum. The results were found that coconut oil and sunflower oil ratio did not affect feed intake and rumen microbial population except for total viable bacteria in which 75:25 ratio was the highest. Dietary treatments had affected nutrient digestibility and rumen fermentation especially 50:50 ratio. Methane concentration was linearly decreased when sunflower oil proportion increased. Nitrogen balance and microbial protein synthesis were similar among treatments, although microbial nitrogen supply tended to have a quadratic response to oil ratios. It is concluded that combined supplementation of coconut oil and sunflower oil could be beneficial to improve the rumen ecosystem and potential productivity in ruminants.