ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Fermented Palm Kernel Cake Improves the Nutrient Degradation of Beef Cattle by Modulating the Rumen Microbiota
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
- 2Institute of Subtropical Agriculture Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, China
- 3Ningxia Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Yinchuan, China
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This study fermented palm kernel cake (PKC) using Aspergillus niger and mannanase. Thirty cattle were randomly divided into two groups of 15: a control group (CON) on a standard diet and a treatment group (FP) with a diet partially replacing soybean meal and corn with fermented PKC (FPKC). The 90 days experiment involved measuring body weight and collecting rumen fluid and fecal samples on days 30, 60, and 90 to evaluate growth performance, rumen fermentation, and nutrient digestibility. Rumen samples from day 90 underwent 16S rRNA microbial sequencing. Cofermentation improved the nutritional quality of PKC and reduced its mannan content (P < 0.05). In a feeding trial, growth performance was similar between the FP and CON (P > 0.05). However, after 90 days, the FP group showed significantly better digestibility of dry matter (DMD), crude protein (CPD), and neutral detergent fiber (NDFD) compared to the CON group (P < 0.05). Rumen fermentation analysis indicated that the FP group had lower Butyrate and NH3-N levels than the CON group (P < 0.05), with no significant differences in other parameters (P > 0.05). 16S rRNA analysis showed that the FP group had a higher abundance of Bacteroidetes, while the CON group had more Firmicutes. The marker genus of the FP group was the Rikenellaceae RC9 gut group, whereas the CON group featured Ruminococcus, Christensenellaceae R-7 group, and Butyrivibrio. These findings underscore the nutritional significance of fermented palm kernel cake and its potential as a feed ingredient for beef cattle, particularly in enhancing nutrient digestibility and modulating microbial composition and metabolism.
Keywords: palm kernel cake, Solid state fermentation, beef cattle, growth performance, Rumen
Received: 24 Sep 2025; Accepted: 20 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mi, Wang, Xiao, Zhu, Hou, Zhou and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chuanshe Zhou, zcs@isa.ac.cn
Dingfu Xiao, xiaodingfu2001@163.com
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