title: Effect of some essential oils on in vitro methane emission.
abstract: The objectives of this study were to characterise four essential oils (EO) chemically and to evaluate their effect on ruminal fermentation and methane emission in vitro. The investigated EO were isolated from Achillea santolina, Artemisia judaica, Schinus terebinthifolius and Mentha microphylla, and supplemented at four levels (0, 25, 50 and 75 microl) to 75 ml of buffered rumen fluid plus 0.5 g of substrate. The main components of the EO were piperitone (49.1%) and camphor (34.5%) in A. judaica, 16-dimethyl 15-cyclooactdaiene (60.5%) in A. santolina, piperitone oxide (46.7%) and cis-piperitone oxide (28%) in M. microphylla, and gamma-muurolene (45.3%) and alpha-thujene (16.0%) in S. terebinthifolius. The EO from A. santolina (at 25 and 50 j1), and all levels of A. judaica increased the gas production significantly, but S. terebinthifolius (at 50 and 75 microl), A. santolina (at 75 microl) and all levels of M. microphylla decreased the gas production significantly in comparison with the control. The highest levels of A. santolina and A. judaica, and all doses from M. microphylla EO inhibited the methane production along with a significant reduction in true degradation of dry matter and organic matter, protozoa count and NH3-N concentration. It is concluded that the evaluated EO have the potential to affect ruminal fermentation efficiency and the EO from M. microphylla could be a promising methane mitigating agent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Egypt. s_sallam@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Sobhy Mohamed Abdallah
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Sallam
authors.forename: Samir Abdelazim Mohamed
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Abdelgaleil
authors.forename: Ives Claudio da Silva
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Bueno
authors.forename: Mohamed Emad Abdelwahab
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Nasser
authors.forename: Rafael Canonenco
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.forename: Adibe Luiz
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Abdalla
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005285:Fermentation; D008297:Male; D008697:Methane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010938:Plant Oils; D008697:Methane