Effect of silver from cloud seeding on rumen microbial function

Abstract

Hazards of Ag from weather modification to micro-organisms of the rumen were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Silver iodide complexes at a concentration of 38 ppm of Ag in dry alfalfa substrate did not affect substrate digestion in vitro. Inhibition of rumen microbial digestion was noted with 100 or more ppm of Ag, as Ag NO₃, in an in vitro fermentation system. A chronic intake of 1 ppm of Ag in dry-matter intake did not produce gradual accumulation of Ag in the rumens of two goats. Silver passed from a goat rumen with a half time of 1.3 days. In two in vivo trials, neither suspensions of AgI complexes simulating 1 ppm of Ag in dry food intake nor solutions of AgNO₃ simulating 100 ppm of Ag in dry food intake inhibited rumen digestion rates. An abundance of chloride ions, proteins, bacteria and other organic matter precludes persistence of Ag ions in the rumen. Based on these results, Ag in forages in areas where clouds are seeded with AgI complexes, including areas near AgI generators, where forages rarely contain more than 1 ppm of Ag in dry matter, will not affect rumen microbial digestion.