A Bibliometric analysis of digestibility kinetics in leguminous and non-leguminous forage species with bovine inoculum and exogenous additives: Intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and global research trends.

Diet optimization and the accurate assessment of ruminal fermentation are critical for the sustainability of livestock systems. Despite the vast literature, knowledge regarding digestibility kinetics through the comparison of bovine inoculum with exogenous agents remains fragmented. This study employed an exploratory bibliometric approach to analyze the structure and evolution of global knowledge on digestibility kinetics in forage species, evaluated using bovine inoculum and exogenous enzymes. A retrospective review (2015 to mid-2026) was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines in Scopus, consolidating 120 documents analyzed with RStudio (Bibliometrix) and VOSviewer software. The validity of the trends was verified using the chi-square test of independence (α = 0.05). The scientific output reflects a field in the process of maturing. Bradford's Law identified a specialized core dominated by the Journal of Dairy Science, Animals, and the Journal of Animal Science. China, the United States, and Brazil led authorship. Keyword analysis ( χ 2 = 65.84; p < 0.0001) revealed a selective focus on the macroprocesses of digestion and fermentation. Over time, no statistically significant difference was found in the annual density of emerging thematic terms ( χ 2 = 3.11; p = 0.875), a result consistent with a gradual, non-abrupt transition toward molecular microbial dynamics and cellulolytic micro-efficiency in the literature. Non-significance is interpreted here as an absence of evidence against a uniform pace, not as proof of it. Based on the bibliometric evidence synthesized, the corpus consistently associates forage degradation with the physical architecture of the plant cell wall and repeatedly identifies synergistic enzyme-bacteria co-inoculation as a promising, though not yet conclusively validated, strategy for mitigating enteric methane emissions and upcycling agro-industrial waste within an emerging paradigm of precision animal husbandry.