Investigation of buffering capacity of some buffer additives and an optimized buffer and its effect on gas production parameters of diets with different concentrate levels

In this study, the buffering resistance pattern of sodium bicarbonate, sodium sesquicarbonate, magnesium oxide, magnesium carbonate, sodium bentonite, and zeolite were statistically compared by plotting the titration curve and comparing the slope of the curves. According to the results of the buffer capacity, raw materials and their percentages were determined to produce the optimized multi-component buffer.  The produced buffer acid-pH curve slope was compared with other slopes. No significant difference was observed in the slope of the optimized buffer with sodium bicarbonate (p <0.05). To ensure optimal buffer performance under ruminal conditions, experimental diets of low concentrate diet without buffer additive (CF), high concentrate diet without buffer additive (CC), low concentrate diet + 1% sodium bicarbonate (NF),  high concentrate diet + 1% sodium bicarbonate (NC), low concentrate diet + 1% optimized buffer (BF) and high concentrate diet + 1% optimized buffer (BC), were examined with gas production test at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 24, 48, 72 and 96 after incubation in ruminal fluid. The use of buffer additives has positive effects on maintaining acid-base balance in the rumen and thus improving the ecology of rumen microorganisms, which was accompanied by a significant increase in gas production (p <0.05). The use of buffer supplements will improve the fermentation process and can significantly increase the digestibility of organic matter and feed metabolizable energy (p <0.05). In addition, the results showed that the optimized buffer has a similar function to sodium bicarbonate and can be used as a suitable alternative.