Feeding of yeast (Candida spp.) improves in vitro ruminal fermentation of fibrous substrates

In vitro gas production technique (IVGPT) was used with the objective of determining the inclusion effect of live cells of two strains of Candida yeast on in vitro ruminal fermentation of two fibrous substrates. In order to achieve this, two experiments were performed: A) using oat straw (Avena sativa) as substrate; B) using alfalfa hay (Medicabo sativa) as substrate, comparing the effect of two different strains of Candida genre, both isolated from the rumen, on the mentioned substrates. Levica 25 (Candida tropicalis) yeast belongs to the culture collection of the Institute of Animal Science, Cuba, and Levazoot 15 (Candida norvegensis) yeast is part of the collection of the Faculty of Zootechnology and Ecology of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico. Both strains demonstrated their potential in activating the ruminal fermentation. They stimulated (P<0.0001) the ruminal fermentation of the substrates under study. However, the Levazoot strain stimulated the dry matter (DM) fermentation of alfalfa in 21.43%, more than Levica 25. It is concluded that there is an influence of yeast strain and diet on the rumen environment and, therefore, it is important to select the appropriate strain in every production condition.