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ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to determine the in vitro fermentation characteristics of feed containing chitin and chitosan feed additives from periwinkle shell and was conducted at the Department of Animal Science Laboratory at the University of Benin where the extraction process of Chitin and Chitosan from periwinkle shell was carried out. A buffer of pH 6.2 at 39oC was prepared prior to the day of collection of rumen liquor, after which the rumen liquor of ten west African Dwarf goats were acquired and immediately taken to the Laboratory where it was then mixed with a buffer solution in a ratio 1:2.
Four treatments consisting of periwinkle shell chitin at 3 % and 6% inclusion levels and periwinkle shell chitosan at 0.3 % and 0.6 % inclusion levels, alongside the control consisting of just substrate and no inclusion of chitin or chitosan were used. The in vitro fermentation was carried out using 100ml syringe filled with 15ml of buffered inoculum, this was done for 24 hours with a recording interval of 3hours to determine the overall gas produced and also the methane gas produced during the incubation period. The data collected was analyzed using GenStat Twelfth Edition and the separation of means was done using the Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.
There was no significant (p<0.05) difference of the overall gas produced by the treatments after 24 hours at 3 hours interval and the methane gas produced by periwinkle chitosan at both levels of inclusion (0.3 % and 0.6 %) were significantly different and lower that that produced by both levels of inclusion of periwinkle chitin (3 % and 6 %). Periwinkle Chitosan at both levels of inclusion (0.3 % and 0.6%) produced a significantly high Methane reduction, making it a prospect for the reduction of green house methane gas.
