Design and testing of rumen simulation system with discharging solid chime, liquid, and gas respectively

To overcome the disadvantages of the present rumen simulated apparatus, a novel auto-controlled and continuous cultural rumen simulate system was designed, in which solid chime, liquid and gas were constructed in sealed condition. After 10 days testing experiments, the results showed that pH values in all 4 fermenters were stable and consistent with the condition that of in vivo from 5th d to the end of the experiment; protozoal counts kept at (0.99±0.32)×104 (p=0.6877) and the concentration of NH3-N in the overflowed liquid maintained stably at (3.91±1.10) mg/100mL; the rate of total dry matter disappearance, the total times of venting gas and the concentration of total volatile fatty acids were 62%±2%, (2?370±33) and (41.77±3.78) mmol/L (p=0.488), respectively. So, this novel rumen simulate system showed high similarity to bovine rumen fermentation in vivo according to the above parameters and can used to mimic the rumen fermentation in vitro.