In vitro simulation of drinking events in cattle

Abstract

Drinking causes a rapid decline in reticulorumen temperature (RT) followed by an exponential recovery, which may potentially impact the reticulorumen ecosystem. However, the nexus between drinking events and their effects on ruminal fermentation and microbial diversity has not yet been studied, either in vitro or in vivo. Although artificial (in vitro) rumen systems are widely used in ruminant research to simulate the reticulorumen environment, no such simulation has been described to consider the impact of drinking events on the reticulorumen environment. Therefore, we have developed a method for the in vitro simulation of drinking events in the fermentation jar where the jar temperature was considered a proxy for RT is reduced by adding a measured amount of cold water to the water bath, and the subsequent recovery period is achieved following a temperature profile regulated by a heating immersion circulator. This method enables the replication of RT fluctuations from drinking events, allowing for the monitoring of their impact on fermentation characteristics and microbial ecology in future research. The features of this method are:

Creation of a hypothetical drinking event

Estimation of volume and temperature of cold water for a drinking event

Establishing a temperature profile to regulate the recovery period