Effects of Condensed Tannins Supplementation on Animal Performance, Phylogenetic Microbial Changes, and In Vitro Methane Emissions in Steers Grazing Winter Wheat

Simple Summary Grazing wheat pasture is a common practice throughout the southeastern and south-central United States; however, the practice is limited by concerns regarding the occurrence of bloat. In addition, there are few reports concerning methane production by cattle grazing wheat pasture. Naturally occurring plant secondary compounds, including condensed tannins (CT), saponins, and essential oils, are extensively evaluated as natural alternatives to control bloat and to mitigate methane production. However, the effects of CT supplementation on ruminal gas production, rumen microflora community changes, and animal performance in stocker cattle grazing wheat forage are not fully defined. Supplementation with CT induced changes in ruminal bacteria, reduced methane emissions, and increased animal performance. These data indicate that CT supplementation may benefit stocker producers grazing wheat pasture by decreasing the incidence of bloat and increasing animal performance by changing rumen fermentation. Eighteen growing rumen-cannulated steers, with initial body weight (BW) of 167.4 +/- 7.10 kg, were randomly allocated to one of three treatments that included a control (0% CT) and two CT treatment levels (0.05% and 0.07% condensed tannins (CT)/kg BW) with two replicates each. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments were conducted. In Exp. 1, final BW and average daily gain were greater (p < 0.05) for the 0.07% CT treatment compared to either 0.05% CT or control groups. Rumen bacterial populations in steers fed winter wheat in the absence of CT represented large proportions of the moderate-guanines and cytosines (GC) containing bacterial clusters with similarity coefficient (SC) ranging from 64% to 92% In the presence of CT on day 0, day 20, and day 60, however, the SC was 60% or greater (90% SC) with multiple bacterial band clusters as shown by the denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis banding patterns. In Exp. 2, in vitro total gas, potential gas, and CH4 productions decreased (p < 0.01) as CT supplementation increased in steers grazing wheat forage. These results suggested that the administration of CT improved BW gain and induced bacterial community changes in the rumen of steers grazing wheat forage.