Attempts to inhibit ruminal methanogenesis by blocking pyruvate oxidative decarboxylation.

The inhibition of pyruvate oxidative decarboxylation as a means of decreasing ruminal methanogenesis in vitro was studied. In the first experiment, the addition of adenosine and adenine (with and without ribose) to ruminal batch cultures did not decrease methanogenesis. In the second experiment, the addition of oxythiamin decreased methanogenesis by 23%. In the third experiment, three pyruvate derivatives did not inhibit methanogenesis, although hydroxypyruvate improved organic matter fermentation from 57.8% to 64.2%. The additives did not seem to inhibit pyruvate oxidative decarboxylation.