Indigofera zollingeriana Leaf Extract Reduces Sheep Rumen Methane Production in Vitro

An experimental study aimed at assessing the reduction of gas methane production of sheep using Indigoferazollingerianaleaf extract was conducted from May to September 2019 at the Nutrition and Animal Feed Laboratory, University of Jenderal Soedirman Purwokerto. A One Way Classification of Completely Randomized Design (CRD) experiment was employed.The treatment included Indigofera zollingeriana leaf extract with levels of 0%, 0.40%, and 0.80% of feed dry matter and each treatment was repeated six times, hence 18 experimental units. The feed provided consisted of 60% concentrate and 40% ammoniated rice straw. The concentrate consisted of coconut cake and rice bran with a ratio composition of 1:2. The material used was rumen fluid obtained from three sheep sampled from the Sokaraja slaughterhouse immediately after the sheep were slaughtered. In vitro incubation was carried out for four hours. The variables measured included protozoan population, methane gas production and bacterial populations. The data obtained were then subjected to analysisof variance and continued with the Orthogonal Polynomial test. Methane gas production observed in the present study rangesfrom 11.60± 0.76 to14.37±0.65mM, thus the supplementation of Indigofera zollingerianaleaf extract decreases methane gas production by 19.28% compared to control. The use of 0.80% Indigofera zollingerianaleaf extract can reduce the protozoan populations, methane gas production and can increase the bacterial populations of sheep rumen fluid.