Hi mohammed, for what? in medicine (metabolic disorders?) or in reproduction (pyometra?)   

Hi Ahmed for Acidosis (Metabolic disorder), I think we should never recommend sodium bicarbonate when the ruminal pH is low, and we must use a better alternative. Do you think so?

Sodium bicarbonate (SB)  supplementation increased milk fat concentration, but reduced milk yield. As a result, there were no differences in milk fat yield or efficiency of energy use of diets between C and SB supplemented cows. Changes in milk fat concentration and milk yield were likely due to an increase in DCAD and/or rumen buffering. While there were no productive benefits of SB use, it substantially increased Na discharge, which is known to increase water and soil sodicity. As the diet and animal characteristics, such as level of milk yield, in our study are typical of many modern dairy farms, it is likely that a large proportion of current SB supplementation occurs without benefits to productivity, while increasing Na discharge from the farm.

While CMC supplementation did not improve productivity or efficiency of dietary energy use of our cows, Na discharge from the dairy was not increased. Thus the use of CMC did not contribute to water and soil sodicity. For conditions comparable to those of this study, including many modern dairy farms, dietary use of SB or CMC is not supported due to a lack of improvement in animal performance.

Dear Dr.mohammad, the answer from Akhir Pebriansyah is very logic answer .i do not recommed sb , instead using DCAD is more helpful .

Dear Dr. Mohammad the answe of Dr. Pebriansyah is logic, for this reason i dont recommend the use of sodium bicarbonate.

Dear Mohammad,

I would recommend you to also use malic acid salts. They serve as substrate for lactic acid utilizers bacteria (Selenomonas ruminantium and Megasphera elsdenii). That way, you are not only increasing the difficulty to decrease the rumen pH, but also you are reducing the accumulation of lactic acid, and then, preventing such pH reduction.

Regards,

Dr. Alfredo J. Escribano. 

Thank you Alfredo,

I mean is there a nutritional way to prevent ruminal depression of pH and ignore the use of sodium bicarbonate. 

Hi Mohammad,

First of all and generally, a correct management of the nutrition must be followed:

- Not to use more than 40-45% of non-structural carbohydrates -NSC- (according to NRC system, 2001)

- A minimum of Neutro Detergent Fibre 27-33% (70-80% of it must come from forages) to ensure mastication and saliva production

- Grain type: some cereals produce tend to reduce ruminal pH in a higher degree, since they are more easily fermentable and the profile of Volatile Fatty Acids produced after their fermentation is different

- Conservation/precessing: Milled cereals are more easily fermentable by microorganism, so they tend to reduce the ruminal pH very fast.

- Silages vs hay: silages reduce the ruminal pH faster that hays do, because silages have acids and their fibre is softer (easily degradable, so less masticantion is needed -> less saliva production -> less tampon/buffer effect)

A part from that, I sincerely recommend you to use salts of malic acid. A part from being a researcher, I am the Porduct Manager for Ruminants at NOREL, a company of the feed sector, and I know very well this product and its effects. We have working for long with it and we market it worldwide. These facts may give you an idea about its efficacy. Its name is Rumalato.

If you are interested, look at the website of the company: http://norel.es/en/products/rumen-enhancers/rumalato

Tell me about the livestock systems you have there, in order to have an idea of the situations you dealing with and your needs. 

Regards,

Dr. Alfredo J. Escribano.