Oat Brewery Waste Decreased Methane Production and Alters Rumen Fermentation, Microbiota Composition, and CAZymes Profiles

TL;DR

Oat brewery waste can reduce methane emissions in livestock digestion, but it also changes gut microbes and fermentation.

Contribution

This study shows oat brewery waste can replace concentrate feed and reduce methane production in ruminants.

Findings

Replacing concentrate with oat brewery waste reduced methane production by 38–52%.

OBW altered rumen microbiota, including Firmicutes, Euryarchaeota, and Methanobrevibacter.

Gas production and fermentation were affected by OBW inclusion levels.

Abstract

The transformation of oat brewery waste (OBW) into livestock feed could be a potential replacement for the expensive concentrate and one of the effective approaches for avoiding health hazards due to the accumulation of oat brewery waste in the environment. To explore the potential of OBW as a methane (CH4) mitigating agent, an in vitro study was undertaken to investigate the effect of graded replacement of concentrate with OBW on CH4 production, microbiota, feed fermentation, and CAZymes. A total of five treatments with variable proportions of OBW were formulated. The results indicated a linear decrease in the total gas production and a 38–52% decrease in CH4 production with a 60 and 100% replacement of concentrate with OBW. The inclusion of OBW also affected the abundance of microbes such as Firmicutes, Euryarchaeota, Methanobrevibacter, and protozoa numbers. This study demonstrated that OBW can partially replace the concentrate and effectively mitigate CH4 production; however, the concurrent decrease in fermentation cautioned for the partial replacement of concentrate with OBW at an appropriate level at which the fermentation remains unaffected while decreasing CH4 production. Therefore, waste from oat breweries can contribute to curtailing the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere.

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