Study of associative effects of date palm leaves mixed with Aristida pungens and Astragalus gombiformis on the aptitudes of ruminal microbiota in small ruminants

The objectives of this trial were to evaluate interactions between microbial degradation of three substrates: date palm leaves as tannin-rich substrate, Astragalus gombiformis (as nitrogen source) and Aristida pungens (as carbon source). The model included the principal effects of single substrate and mixtures of multiple interactions. The forages were fermented alone or mixed with date palm leaves in various combinations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%), in buffered rumen fluid using in vitro gas techniques. Gas production (mmol/g of dry matter) at 3, 6, 9, 24, 48 and 72 h of incubation was measured from all feed combinations. Treatments were carried out in triplicate and data were submitted to analysis of variance using a mixed procedure with repetition considered as the random effect. The interactions between feeds were evaluated on the basis of differences between single and mixed substrates on the different variables measured. The results showed that the included palm leaves reduced gas production when associated with A. pungens (p