Low Fiber Digestibility

• Ruminant herbivores depend on microbial fermentation within the rumen to acquire energy from plant material.
  
  
• The different fractions of fibers, or plant cell walls are not completely physically accessible and show various degrees of digestibility in the rumen (see graph below)
  
  
• To improve animal productivity, part of  the forage diet is substituted by a larger proportion of readily fermentable carbohydrates
  
  
• The supplementation of forage diets with readily fermentable carbohydrates is known to depress rumen fiber degradation.
  
  
• The major fiber-degrading bacterial species Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus albus and R. flavfaciens are particularly sensitive to low pH.
  
  
• The objective of ruminant nutritionists is to maximize a balanced nutrient intake and availability.