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Halophytic Salt Load in Relation to Rumen Osmolality, Microbial Activity, and Animal Performance

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  • First Online:
Handbook of Halophytes

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Abstract

Feeding halophytes imposes certain constraints to the animals because they have extraordinary concentrations of salts as well as plant secondary metabolites. The salt contents of halophytes may run up to 40% or more. Of these constraints is the elevated ruminal osmotic pressure which may cause impaired animal performance. Increased osmotic pressure in the rumen may affect rumen function through the alteration of rumen environment. This may lead to changes in microbial community count and relative proportions of microorganisms, ruminal pH, volatile fatty acid production, and ammonia concentrations. These effects result in modified rumen function. Impaired function of microbial community leads to decreased digestibilities of nutrients. Rumen pH decreases linearly as osmotic pressure increases. Elevated osmolality may cause the permeability of the rumen wall to increase. Raising rumen tonicity normally stimulates voluntary water intake, thus leading to decreased feed intake and increased rumen passage rate. Increased osmotic pressure and changed ruminal pH may cause the epithelial layer of the rumen to shed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal and Poultry Nutrition, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    K. M. Youssef & Salah A. Attia-Ismail

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  1. K. M. Youssef
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  2. Salah A. Attia-Ismail
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  1. Faculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania

    Marius-Nicusor Grigore

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  1. Faculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Iasi, Romania

    Marius-Nicusor Grigore

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Youssef, K.M., Attia-Ismail, S.A. (2020). Halophytic Salt Load in Relation to Rumen Osmolality, Microbial Activity, and Animal Performance. In: Grigore, MN. (eds) Handbook of Halophytes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17854-3_110-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17854-3_110-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17854-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17854-3

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