The IVDMD and IVOMD were increased by a linear response (P<0.05) by the increased level of EDLEPO inclusion in the diet (Table 2). The EDLEPO inclusion increased the
in vitro rumen DM and OM degradability rate by about 4-12% and 5-9%, respectively. Increased IVDMD and IVOMD reached their optimum rate at the highest level of EDLEPO inclusion in the diet. However, Ferreira
et al. (2016) found that supplementation of soybean oil and sunflower oil had no certain effect on dry matter and organic digestibility in ruminants. Perhaps the increased
in vitro degradability rate relates to the experimental substrate composition in the present study. Because the substrate degradability rate depends on the physical, nutrient, composition ratio between feed sources and feed processing
(Mayulu et al., 2020; Hernaman et al., 2022). The substrate of experimental groups was included with EDLEPO, in which the major materials for the encapsulation and emulsification process are maltodextrin and MCC. Those components are known as carbohydrates, acceptable to rumen microbes and would be degraded into volatile fatty acids
(Zhang et al., 2020). These compounds contribute carbohydrates in crude fiber and NFE, hence, the substrate in each treatment had an identical carbohydrate composition. Double encapsulation can trap peanut oil, so it does not affect digestibility. Vegetable oils also that are known to have a negative effect on cellulolytic bacteria which could show inhibitory effects of the fibre digestion
(Ibrahim et al., 2021).
This condition will allow sufficient time (slow release) for the first layer of emulsion (WPI and peanut oils) to pass into post-rumen. It can be confirmed with the decreased ammonia-N concentration by the increased level of EDLEPO inclusion, significantly lowered by a linear response (P<0.05) (Table 2). However, ammonia-N concentration for all treatments remained within the range of rumen microbial requirements. Ammonia-N is an essential nutrient for microbial growth. The rumen microbial needs 5-11 mmol/L ammonia to maximize microbial protein
(Shen et al., 2023). It is suspected that WPI is a source of protein that acts as an emulsifier with peanut oil as the first layer in EDLEPO and was protected from rumen microbial during fermentation. Moreover, ammonia is a source of N for microbial protein synthesis derived from the fermentation of proteins, peptides, or amino acids
(Kim et al., 2017; Yu et al., 2022). Fortunately, the double-layer emulsion has the advantage of carrying hydrophilic active components protecting the inner material from disturbance. The trapping of active components in the internal phase through the coating on the external oil and water phases will slow the rate of release and degradation of active components for a particular duration
(Sapei et al., 2012). Such a condition might indicate that the WPI of the EDLEPO layer was not degraded and fermented by rumen proteolytic microbes. Then at this stage, added pepsin-HCl produces a pH of 2 to 3, which is the same as conditions in the abomasum (post-rumen)
(Hildebrandt et al., 2017). However, the WPI emulsion may be unstable due to the peanut oil’s molecular bonds. Abdolmaleki
et al. (2016) stated that emulsion was very unstable at pH 2.5, with the emulsion stability index decreasing almost three times more than other emulsions during storage time. As a result, protein in WPI will be digested by pepsin which increased the EDLEPO experimental group’s degradability rate more than the CON group. This mechanism is expected when it occurs in ruminants, to inhibit the BH process where PUFAs pass to the small intestine and can be absorbed optimally in the targeted ruminant products, such as milk and/or meat
(Barroso et al., 2014).
Increased levels of EDLEPO inclusion in the diet had no effects on rumen total gas production. According to
Olfaz et al., (2018), there is a positive relationship between gas production and the degradability of the organic matter of feed. Unfortunately, the present study results on degradability and gas production are not coherent with Olfaz
et al. (2018) findings. However,
Besharati et al., (2022) reported that the encapsulation of flaxseed oil with calcium alginate increased the dry matter degradability of substrate with a fluctuation effect on gas production during 96 h incubation. Some researchers reported that vegetable oil supplementation in the diet negatively affects rumen fermentation indicating reduced degradability rates and a lower microbial population
(Yanza et al., 2021). The contrary results between the present study and previous findings concerning rumen degradability rates by encapsulated oils supplementation may be affected by several factors such as microcapsule membrane materials, treatments of internal matter in the microcapsule (double-layer oil emulsion) and feed diet. Rumen microbial can bind the microcapsule layer of EDLEPO made from WPI and bind with MCC and maltodextrin as the bilayer of emulsified peanut oil. However, the protected peanut oil may be unattached by rumen microbes due to the exhaustion period to bind with the EDLEPO microcapsule membrane and emulsified layers. Besharati
et al. (2022) also confirmed the effects of fat coating and the type of microcapsule sources may explain the rumen degradability rates on the substrate, which can be due to differences in the amount of oil released from different microcapsules per unit of time and the total amount of oil released from the microcapsules.
Total VFA concentration and composition such as acetate, propionate and butyrate proportion, as well as the acetate: propionate ratio of experimental treatments were similar. It may suggest that the EDLEPO supplementation had no negative effects on rumen fermentation. The present study results were also confirmed by Suharti
et al. (2019), which trialed a single layer of canola/sesame oil emulsion encapsulation treatment combined with
Sapindus rarak extract. Nevertheless, although EDLEPO supplementation had no significant effects on rumen total gas production, gas in the form of H
2, CO
2 and
CH4 was consequentially produced
(Moss et al., 2000). Enteric CH
4 is produced by rumen microbes called methanogenic archaea, involved in converting the free hydrogen (H
2) and carbon dioxide (CO
2) by protozoa, bacteria and anaerobic fungi communities to formed CH
4 (Patra
et_al2017). Moreover, acetic and butyric acids promote CH
4 production, while propionic acid can be considered a competitive pathway for hydrogen uptake in the rumen. Hence, a specific stoichiometry model can be adapted to estimate the rumen enteric methane production from the partial VFA results (Moss, 2000).
Estimated methane concentration between treatments had a similar result. It can be concluded unchanged CH
4 concentration occurred due to the similar proportion of acetic, butyric and propionic acid production among treatments (Table 3). However, when the CH
4 concentration was expressed as CH
4 / IVDMD (mM/ g degraded DM), CH
4 was significantly reduced by the increased level of EDLEPO supplementation by about 5 to 9.7% by a linear response (P<0.05). The CH
4 concentration expressed as CH4/IVOMD (mM/ g degraded OM), was also significantly reduced by the increased level of EDLEPO supplementation by about 10 to 17% by a linear response (P<0.05). It can be suggested that supplementation of EDLEPO may increase feed efficiency by the increased substrate degradability rates. The formation of CH
4 resulted in no direct relationship with the presence of EDLEPO in the diet. In the EDLEPO, the proportion of peanut oil was 41.66%, with the highest level of EDLEPO inclusion in the present study being 100 g/kg DM so the peanut oil content was 41.66 g/kg DM. Meanwhile, the encapsulation efficiency level was 30.14%, which means that only 12.55 g/kg DM of peanut oil was trapped in 100 g/kg DM EDLEPO, while the remaining 29.11 g/kg was the surface oil. This amount is not expected to interfere with the degradability and fermentability of diets in rumen fluid because oil supplementation can affect the microbial community and fermentation process in the rumen.
However, it is known that the rumen produces less methane when there is more fat in the diet because dietary fat decreases the amount of hydrogen that is accumulated through the process of fatty acid biohydrogenation, the amount of fermentable organic matter that is consumed, the rate of fiber digestion and the count and activity of the ruminal bacteria (
El-Sherbiny et al., 2023). Hence, although the EDLEPO supplementation may not directly alter microbial activity, rumen microbes were not observed in the present study. Nevertheless, rumen microbes can synthesize the encapsulated and emulsified layers of peanut oil due to the material used for making EDLEPO, hence increased degradability rates indirectly reduced the enteric CH
4 concentration in the rumen.