Search

Abstract Background Due to the sharp rise in animal feed costs, funding alternatives to substitute high-cost raw materials used in animal feed is a persistent need. This study investigated the effect of alkaline hydrogen peroxide pretreatment as straightforward non-toxic technology to enhance the in vitro rumen digestibility of exhausted olive pomace (EOP), an abundant agricultural waste, to be suitable as animal feedstock. It examined the efficiency to eliminate the toxic phenolic content and minimize lipid oxidation of EOP. Results The pretreatment was first optimized using a central composite experimental design. Under the optimized conditions (1.6% H2O2, 5% NaOH), the measured phenolic content was 1.51 ± 0.03 mg/100 g dry weight (DW) for treated olive pomace (TOP) versus 4.91 ± 0.06 mg/100 g for the untreated one. The pretreatment showed that approximately 25% of the lignin was removed. Crude proteins, neutral detergent fibers, and acid detergent fibers yields of TOP were, respectively, 3.320 ± 0.05, 75.24 ± 0.23, and 54.05 ± 0.35 g/100 g of DW, significantly more important than those of untreated EOP. The enzymatic hydrolysis with a cellulase-based cocktail (Celluclast15 FPU/gDW), recorded a 48% of reducing sugar yield for TOP against 33% for EOP. When the in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) was assayed, the potential gas production of TOP (41.371 ml/g DM) was significantly higher than EOP (25.771 ml/g DM). The metabolizable energy of TOP (9.28 kcal/kg DM) was higher than that of EOP (7.78 kcal/kg DM). Conclusions The present study revealed that alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) could be an efficient treatment for the detoxification and enhancement of in vitro rumen digestibility of olive pomace. This straightforward approach demonstrated that treated olive pomace waste may be well valorized as suitable animal feedstock. Graphical Abstract

This study aimed to assess the main factors affecting goat milk yield and composition from the Northwest region of Tunisia. A survey and a sampling campaign were conducted over four months (February-May, 2018), within 112 farms in 3 regions. Individual daily milk yield (DMY) was registered and milk samples were taken in duplicate to be analysed for fat (FC), protein (PC), solid not fat (SNF), density and lactose contents. Results showed that the Alpine breed allowed the highest DMY and PC, and the Damasquine presented the highest FC. The third lactation allowed the highest DMY (0.95 Lday-1) and FC (6.68%), however the highest PC, SNF and density are recorded for primiparous. Concerning the birth weight of kids, DMY increased significantly with the weight of the kids at birth, and it resulted in a significant effect on the FC. The assessment of the region effect showed that the highest DMY was obtained in the region of Jendouba and Ghardimaou. For milk composition, when breed effect was eliminated and focused only on the local breed, we found the highest FC in Sedjnen/Nefza. The analysis of the goat feeding allowed identifying 5 types of rations. Also, statistical analysis showed that the highest DMY resulted from the rations T4 and T5 (averaged 1.06 Lday-1). No effect of ration type on FC and density was found. Concerning PC, SNF and lactose, the ration effect had no significant effect, but a trend of highest values was noted for T3. It was concluded that dairy performances were low, focusing only on the local goat population. However, the produced milk is of good quality regarding the determined chemical composition. Indeed, there is a negative correlation between milk production and the chemical composition of milk. Substantial improvements are potentially possible through actions (improvement of the quality of the ration, milk hygiene, milk collection pattern, training of breeders, etc) to develop a value chain in the region and improve farmer incomes.

In Tunisia, dairy farming faced several problems limiting the improvement of the milk sector, mostly at the level of small farmers. These difficulties are related to the milk quality affected by the feed quality distributed throughout the year. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of rations and seasons on daily individual milk production (DIMP) and some physicochemical characteristics (Fat content: FC, Protein content: PC, Urea concentration: UC, Total Solids: TS). A survey and milk samplings were performed on 135 farmers. Collected data were treated by the variance analysis using the GLM procedure of the SAS system. This study allowed to identify four types of ration: TR1: Concentrate (CC)+Green Forage(GF), TR2: CC+Dry Forage (DF), TR3: CC+GF+DF and TR4: Diet containing Silage (S), used by farmers with the frequencies of 14.82, 37.19, 44.6 and 3.38% respectively. The highest DIMP (P

Demand for animal products is expected to increase due to human population growth, resulting in a need for increased production. At the same time, climate change poses a major threat to the viability and sustainability of livestock production systems. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the sus-tainability of dairy cattle farms belonging to three farming systems (rainfed, irrigated, and mixed) at the northeast zone of Tunisia using the IDEA method (version 3). Collected data of 102 farms were subjected to an analysis of variance using the GLM procedure of SAS software (version 9.4). Results showed that the socio-territorial scale was the limiting factor for all systems and that the irrigated sys-tem had the lowest scores of agro-ecological and socio-territorial scales, compared to the other ones, but it recorded the highest score for the economic scale. The best agro-ecological and socio-territorial scores characterized the mixed system. However, it had the lowest score on the economic scale. Finally, the rain-fed system was exhibited medium performances of the three scales. It was concluded a differ-ence between the three farm systems, but there was no disassociation between the three sustainability dimensions; thus, improvements should proceed across all scales simultaneously.

Abstract The cheese Klila occupies a very important socio-economic place established in the rural and peri-urban environment. It is a fermented cheese produced empirically in several regions of Algeria. It is the most popular traditional cheese and its artisanal manufacturing process is still in use today. The processing consists of moderate heating of “Lben” (described a little farther) until it becomes curdled, and then drained in muslin. The cheese obtained is consumed as it stands, fresh, or after drying. When dried, it is used as an ingredient after its rehydration in traditional culinary preparations. In this review, we expose the main categories of traditional Algerian dairy products; we focus mainly on the traditional Klila cheese, its history, origin, and different manufacturing stages. We recall the different consumption modes and incorporation of Klila cheese in the culinary preparations.

Conservation practices that involve leaving mulch on the soil are known to increase soil fertility. However, mulch is an important source of feed for ruminant livestock. Accordingly, the trade-offs between mulching and stubble uptake by livestock are currently hot topics in the research field. In this study, a comparison between the quality of stubbles of wheat grown in no-tillage and conventional tillage fields and the rumen fermentation characteristics of Barbarine ewes grazing in the two fields was carried out. Samples were collected four times after wheat grain harvesting. Immediately after harvest, stubble biomass was slightly higher under no-tillage than conventional tillage. The ewes displayed different grazing behavior, with feeding at a higher rate on the conservative stubble than the conventional stubble. This feeding behavior seemed to be an adaptive strategy to offset the decline in the nutritional quality of stubbles from no-tillage-grown wheat. Indeed, dry matter, protein, fiber, and ash contents were lower in stubbles from no-tillage than conventional tillage at the second sampling time. Consequently, the concentration of the volatile fatty acid, propionic acid, was lower in ewes grazing in the conservative plots. However, this feeding behavior did not cause any body weight impairment during the two-month experimental period. At the end of grazing, the no-tillage practice was found to be comparable to the conventional tillage system according to the amount of residue remaining on the soil surface. Therefore, no-tillage could not be used to solve the competition between crops and livestock for residues.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of increasing doses (0, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 120 µl/50 ml) of essential oil of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) on in vitro rumen fermentation. Two 24 h-incubations were done and gas production (GP) was measured. The liquid was collected for analysis of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and true organic matter degradability (TOMD). The partitioning factor (PF) was estimated after 24 h of incubation. Procedure of H-NMR spectroscopy was used to analyse rumen fluid samples. Results showed that, GP was only affected and decreased significantly for the doses 20, 40, 80 and 120 µl. Ammonia-N concentration was reduced by 8.2%, 18.6%, 21.6% and 25% when 20, 40, 80 and 120 µl of EuEO were added respectively. The TOMD values were decreased significantly at doses 40, 80 and 120 µl. The PF values were affected between doses control and 120 µl. Concerning H-NMR spectroscopy, results showed that the diet containing 80 µl of EuEO, there were increases observed in the concentration of rumen methylamine, glucose, butyrate, propionate and glycine. EuEO modified fermentation trends in the rumen, mainly by reducing GP and protein deamination. And the use of EuEO in high concentrations inhibits ruminal flora and decreases the production of VFA.

This study aimed to determine the emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from seven Tunisian livestock species and their evolution over eleven consecutive years (2008–2018). The species of animals used were cattle (dairy and others), sheep, goats, camelids, horses, donkeys and mules, and poultry. The estimations of CH4 and N2O emissions were based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for national inventories, using Tier 1 and Tier 2 approaches, with its default emission factors (EFs). The Tier 2 approach was applied only for the calculation of EF to estimate CH4 emissions related to livestock manure management. CH4 emission represented more than 92% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) from livestock emissions. Moreover, 53% of the total CH4 emissions from livestock were derived from cattle, followed by sheep, goats, other mammals (camelids, horses, mules, and donkeys), and poultry. During the period covered by the study (2008–2018), a slight and continuous decrease of both livestock population and total GHG emissions was observed, mainly in terms of CH4. In mammals, CH4 emissions were greater than N2O emissions, whereas in poultry, N2O emissions were up to 2.6 times greater than CH4 emissions. The aggressive drive of the government to increase cattle and sheep production might affect CH4 emissions in the future. Therefore, periodic estimations of GHG emissions from livestock are required to follow the time trends for more rational decision-making regarding livestock and GHG emissions policies.