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Rumen microbial protein supply to sheep given diets containing either urea or casein as the main N source

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2017

X. B. Chen ,
C. X. Gu ,
W. X. Zhang  and
E. R. Ørskov
X. B. Chen
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
C. X. Gu
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
W. X. Zhang
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
E. R. Ørskov
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
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Extract

The ability of rumen microbes to synthesize protein from ammonia-N enables the use of non-protein-N as a N source in ruminant diets. The strategy for feed formulation therefore would be to meet the microbial N requirement with a cheap N source (such as urea) and to increase the proportion of dietary protein for use directly by the host animal. There has been some indication that the efficiency of rumen microbial protein synthesis could be higher if protein N is provided (Stock, Klopfenstein, Brink, Britton and Harmon, 1986). The objective of this experiment was to compare the use of urea and casein as a source of rumen degradable nitrogen (RDN) for the production of microbial protein in sheep.

Five male Blackface x Suffolk lambs (33-42 kg live weight) fitted with rumen cannula were used. The animals were fed a restricted amount (721 g DM/day) of a low-N basal diet with or without supplementation with either urea or casein.

Type
Rumen Metabolism
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1992 , March 1992 , pp. 215
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1992

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References

Chen, X. B., Ørskov, E. R. and Hovell, F. D. DeB. 1991. The use of intragastric infusion in studies on excretion of purine derivatives as a measure of microbial protein supply in ruminants. Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Protein Metabolism and Nutrition. Vol 2. pp. 67–70.Google Scholar
Stock, R., Klopfenstein, T., Brink, D., Britton, R. and Harmon, D. 1986. Whey as a source of rumen-degradable protein. I. Effects on microbial protein production. Journal of Animal Science. 63: 1561–1573.Google Scholar