Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T11:23:14.027Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The digestion by cattle of silage and barley diets containing increasing quantities of fishmeal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

J. A. Rooke
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
D. G. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU

Summary

A 4 × 4 latin-square design experiment was carried out to determine the effects of increasing nitrogen (N) intake by feeding diets containing increasing amounts of fishmeal upon the digestion of organic matter (OM) and N by cattle equipped with rumen and duodenal cannulae. A basal diet (B) containing 600 g silage and 400 g ground barley/kg diet and three diets (BF1, BF2 and BF3) in which increasing amounts of the silage and barley basal diet were proportionately replaced by fishmeal were fed. The mean daily intakes of OM and N when each diet was fed were 4·29, 4·28, 4·22 and 4·20 kg OM and 90, 108, 125 and 143 g N for diets B, BF1, BF2 and BF3 respectively.

Neither the amounts of OM entering the small intestine nor those voided in the faeces were altered by the diets fed. Thus mean apparent OM digestibility for all the diets fed was 0·74 ± 0·007 and the proportion of digestible OM intake apparently digested in the rumen was 0·83±0·011.

Mean daily concentrations of ammonia N in the rumen were significantly (P <0·01) increased from 85 mg N/l (diet B) to 129 mg N/1 (diet BF3) as fishmeal intake increased.

The quantities of non-ammonia N (P <0·05) and of amino acid N (P <0·001) entering the small intestine were significantly increased as more fishmeal was added to the diets fed. As fishmeal intake increased apparent N digestibility was significantly (P <0·001) increased.

Neither the quantities of microbial N entering the small intestine daily nor the apparent efficiency of microbial N synthesis within the rumen were increased by the diets fed. The quantities of feed N entering the small intestine daily were significantly (P<0·01) increased as fishmeal intake increased; thus apparent feed N degradability in the rumen was significantly (P <0·05) decreased from 0·84 (diet B) to 0·73 (diet BF3) as fishmeal intake increased. Similarly, the rates of disappearance of N from each of the four barley or barley and fishmeal concentrates when incubated in the rumens of the cattle in porous synthetic fibre bags were decreased as the proportion of fishmeal in the concentrates increased. Thus, the rumen N degradability of the diets fed, when calculated from the rates of disappearance of N from porous synthetic fibre bags placed in the rumen, decreased as fishmeal intake increased.

As fishmeal intake increased the amino acid composition of duodenal digesta (expressed as g/kg determined amino acids) changed such that the content of arginine increased (P <0·01) and the content of isoleucine decreased (P <0·01). The concentrations of arginine (P <0·01), leucine and lysine (P <0·05) in blood plasma increased as fishmeal intake increased.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council (1980). The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock. Slough: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council (1984). The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock, Supplement No. 1. Slough: The Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Brett, P. A., Almond, M., Harrison, D. G., Rowlinson, P.. Rooke, J. A. & Armstrong, D. G. (1979). An attempted evaluation of the proposed ARC protein system with reference to the lactating cow. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 38, 148 A.Google Scholar
Cottrill, B. R., Beever, D. E., Austin, A. R. & Os-bourn, D. F. (1982). The effect of protein- and nonprotein-nitrogen supplements to maize silage on total amino acid supply in young cattle. British Journal of Nutrition 48, 527542.Google Scholar
England, P. & Gill, M. (1985). The effect of fishmeal and sucrose supplementation on the voluntary intake of grass silage and live-weight gain of young cattle. Animal Production 40, 259265.Google Scholar
Faichney, G. L. (1986). The kinetics of particulate matter in the rumen. In Control of Digestion and Metabolism in Ruminants (ed. Milligan, L. P., Grovum, W. L. and Dobson, A.), pp. 173195. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Ganev, G., Ørskov, E. R. & Smart, R. (1979). The effect of roughage or concentrate feeding and rumen retention time on total degradation of protein in the rumen. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 93, 651656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, M. & Beever, D. E. (1982). The effect of protein supplementation on digestion and glucose metabolism in young cattle fed on silage. British Journal of Nutrition 48, 3748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harstad, O. M. & Vik-Mo, L. (1985). Estimation of microbial and undegraded protein in sheep on grass silage based diets. Ada Agriculturae Scandinavica, Supplement 25, 3748.Google Scholar
Hume, I. D. (1974). The proportion of dietary protein escaping degradation in the rumen of sheep fed on various protein concentrates. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 25, 155165.Google Scholar
Kirby, P. S., Chalmers, A. J. & Clark, W. A. (1983). A comparison of formaldehyde-treated soya-bean meal and two types of fishmeal as protein supplements for growing beef cattle given grass silage ad libitum. Animal Production 36, 538539 (abstract).Google Scholar
Kirby, P. S., Chalmers, A. J. & Hannam, D. A. R. (1983). Fishmeal supplementation of grass silage diets for fattening British Friesian Steers. Animal Production 36, 538 (abstract).Google Scholar
Ling, J. R. & Buttery, P. J. (1978). The simultaneous use of ribonucleic acid, 35S, 2, 6-diaminopimelic acid and 2- aminoethylphosphonic acid as markers of microbial nitrogen entering the duodenum of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 39, 165179.Google Scholar
McMeniman, N. P. & Armstrong, D. G. (1979). The flow of amino acids into the small intestine of cattle when fed heated and unheated beans (Vicia faba). Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 93, 181188.Google Scholar
Madsen, J. & Hvelplund, T. (1985). Protein degradation in the rumen. A comparison between in vivo, nylon bag, in vitro and buffer measurements. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Supplement 25, 103124.Google Scholar
Mathers, J. C. & Aitchison, E. M. (1981). Direct estimation of the extent of contamination of food residues by microbial matter after incubation within synthetic fibre bags in the rumen. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 98, 691693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehrez, A. Z., Ørskov, E. R. & Opstvedt, J. (1980). Processing factors affecting degradability of fishmeal in the rumen. Journal of Animal Science 50, 737744.Google Scholar
Mercer, J. R., Allen, S. & Miller, E. L. (1980). Rumen bacterial protein synthesis and the proportion of dietary protein in the rumen of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 32, 421433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1975). Energy allowances and feeding systems for ruminants. Technical Bulletin no. 33, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Moore, R. B. & Kauffman, N. J. (1970). Simulaneous determination of citrulline and urea using diacetyl monoxime. Analytical Biochemistry 33, 263272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Hughes-Jones, M. & Elimam, M. E. (1983). Studies on degradation and outflow rate of protein supplements in the rumen of sheep and cattle. Livestock Production Science 10, 1724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., & McDonald, I. (1979). The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighted according to rate of passage. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92, 499503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ridgman, W. J. (1975). Experimentation in Biology. Glasgow and London: Blackie.Google Scholar
Rooke, J. A., Alvarez, P. & Armstrong, D. G. (1986). The digestion by cattle of barley and silage diets containing increasing quantities of soya-bean meal. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 107, 263272.Google Scholar
Rooke, J. A., Brett, P. A., Overend, M. A. & Armstrong, D. G. (1985). The energetic efficiency of rumen microbial protein synthesis in cattle fed silage-based diets. Animal Feed Science and Technology 13, 255267.Google Scholar
Rooke, J. A., Brookes, I. M. & Armstrong, D. G. (1983). The digestion of untreated and formaldehyde-treated soya-bean and rapeseed meals by cattle fed a basal silage diet. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 100, 329342.Google Scholar
Rooke, J. A.Greife, H. A. & Armstrong, D. G. (1984). The effect of in sacco rumen incubation of a grass silage upon the total and D-amino acid composition of the residual silage dry matter. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 102, 695702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooke, J. A., Greife, H. A. & Armstrong, D. G. (1985). The digestion by heifers of silage-containing diets fed at two dry matter intakes. 1. Digestion of organic matter and nitrogen. British Journal of Nutrition 53, 691708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooke, J. A., Norton, B. W. & Armstrong, D. G. (1982). The digestion of untreated and formaldehyde-treated soya-bean meals and estimation of their rumen degradabilities by different methods. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 99, 441452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, G. J. S. (1980). Maximum Likelihood Program. Rothamsted: Rothamsted Experimental Station.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. & Cochran, W. G. (1967). Statistical Methods, 6th edn.Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Turnell, D. C. & Cooper, J. H. D. (1982). Rapid assay for amino acids in serum or urine by pre-column derivitization and reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Clinical Chemistry 28, 527531.Google Scholar
Uden, P., Colucci, P. E. & Van Soest, P. J. (1980). Investigation of chromium, cerium and cobalt as markers in digesta. Rate of passage studies. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 31, 625632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vik-Mo, L. & Lindberg, J. E. (1985). In sacco degradability of protein (N) and dry matter in samples of individual feeds or combinations; tested with diets medium or high in protein. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica 35, 117128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A. P., Smith, R. H. & McAllan, A. B. (1983). Undegraded dietary protein estimated by in vivo, in vitro and ‘in rumen’ methods. In Protein Metabolism and Nutrition (ed. Arnal, M., Pion, R. and Bonin, D.). Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium of the European Association for Animal Production, vol. II, pp. 215218. Paris: INRA.Google Scholar
Yilala, K. & Bryant, M. J. (1985). The effects upon the intake and performance of store lambs of supplementing grass silage with barley, fishmeal and rapeseed meal. Animal Production 40, 111121.Google Scholar