Effect of polyethylene glycol addition on methane production from some Algerian browse plant species in an in vitro gas system

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Date
2013
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om.ciheam.org
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Abstract. Biological activity of tannins of different browse plants was measured as the change in methane production when plant material was incubated with and without polyethylene glycol (PEG) using the in vitro gas production technique. Four dicotyledon browse plants (Atriplex halimus, Artemisia campestris, Artemisia herba-alba, Calobota saharae) and three monocotyledon browse plants (Stipagrostis pungens, Lygeum spartum and Stipa tenacissima), collected from an arid zone in Bousâada were evaluated. The increase in gas production upon the addition of PEG, compared with that without PEG, for the browse species varied widely (P<0.05), being particularly high in S. tenacissima (+35.0%) and low in L. spartum (+1.5%). The methane concentration in fermentation gas ranged from 7.9% with A. halimus to 18.6% with L. spartum. The higher increase in methane percentage was noted for S. tenacissima (+47.4%) and the lower percent value was observed for L. spartum (+1.5%). In presence of PEG, the methane production had positive correlation with crude protein (r = +0.78) while in absence of PEG, the methane production was correlated negatively with total condensed tannins (r = -0.88). The strongest correlation (r = 0.89; P<0.01) was between total condensed tannins and methane increase response to the addition of polyethylene glycol, suggesting that tannin compounds appeared to be useful to identify plants possessing antimethanogenic activity
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