AMAFERM® in Ruminant Animals
The rumen is a complex environment of microorganisms, including many species of bacteria, protozoa and fungi, which digest and ferment feedstuffs.
The rumen ecosystem is in a constant state of dynamic change with any stress posing a threat to its balance. Managing the rumen through change and stress is a challenge faced by all in the industry.
Feed is digested in the rumen by ruminal bacteria that attach to the surface of a feed particle to digest it. However, lignin, a naturally occurring plant compound that gives structural strength to forages, is not digested by the rumen bacteria, and creates a barrier between the bacteria and the hemicellulose and cellulose, the carbohydrates in forages used for energy. When the bacteria digest cellulose and hemicellulose, they produce the volatile fatty acids (VFA) acetate, propionate, and butyrate. These VFA are the main products of the digestion of feed by bacteria in the rumen. These VFA are absorbed into the blood stream and carried to the liver where they are converted to glucose and fat for energy use by the ruminant animal. Therefore, increasing the digestibility of forages results in more energy to the animal.
Amaferm® feeds the bacteria like yeast, but uniquely stimulates the fungi as well. Amaferm® increases both the morphology and physiology of the fungi that are responsible for the early events of the fiber (plant cellulose) attack. With Amaferm®, fungi have the ability to penetrate deeply into the plant stoma (green above). The fungi (blue above) break plant tissue open, the combination of physically growing down into the fiber and secreting key enzymes “opens” the fiber for secondary bacterial (red above) invasion.
