Garlic derived compounds modify ruminal fatty acid biohydrogenation and induce shifts in the Butyrivibrio community in continuous-culture fermenters

Garlic essential oil contains a variety of fat soluble organosulfur compounds with antibacterial activity. Nevertheless, only recent studies have evaluated garlic oil and its constituents as modulators of ruminal processes. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of diallyl disulfide (DDS) and propyl propane thiosulfinate (PTS) to modulate rumen biohydrogenation in vitro. Six continuous-culture fermenters, inoculated with rumen fluid from goats, were used in two replicated incubation runs of 12 days each. Two fermenters per run received either a control diet (without additive) or the same diet with 80 mu l/L of DDS or 200 mu l/L of PTS daily. At the end of each incubation run, samples of fermenter contents were taken for fatty acid analysis. The DDS addition resulted in lower (P=0.012) total saturated fatty acids (SFA) and higher monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA; P=0.001) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; P=0.018) contents as compared to the control. Increases in trans-10, cis-12 CLA (P=0.065), trans-10 18:1 (P