scholarly journals The effects of intraruminal infusions of sucrose and xylose on nitrogen and fibre digestion in the rumen and intestines of cattle receiving diets of grass silage and barley

1987 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 405-424
Author(s):  
Pekka Huhtanen

Two male cattle (live weight 240 kg) fitted with rumen and simple T-piece duodenal cannulas were given a basal diet of 12 kg of silage (227 g/kg DM, 25.7 g N/kg DM), 1 kg of rolled barley and 100 g of mineral mixture. In addition to the basal diet, 0, 450 or 900 g/d of either sucrose or xylose was continuously infused intraruminally. The amount of organic matter (OM) entering the duodenum (P < 0.001) and excreted in the faeces (P < 0.01) was linearly increased with the increased sugar infusion. The proportion of digestible OM apparently digested in the rumen averaged 0.694, and did not differ (P > 0.05) with the level or type of sugar. Rumen ammonia concentration and molar proportions of isovalerate were decreased (P < 0.001) with increased sugar level. The decrease in the ammonia concentration was slightly less (P < 0.05) with xylose than with sucrose. Molar proportions of acetate, propionate and butyrate were not affected by the sugar level but sucrose produced a lower (P < 0.05) proportion of acetate and higher (P < 0.01) proportion of butyrate than did xylose. There was a net loss of N (11.6g/d) between the mouth and duodenum when the basal diet was consumed alone but a net gain (21.6 g/d) with the high level of sugar infusion. Microbial N flow at the duodenum, measured on the basis of RNA purine bases, increased linearly (P 0.05) for sugar levels of 0, 450 and 900 g/d, respectively. The amount of microbial N produced was closely related to rumen ammonia concentration (r—0.86; P < 0.001) and outflow of water at the duodenum (r 0.83; P

1971 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Rutter ◽  
T. R. Laird ◽  
P. J. Broadbent

SUMMARY1. Forty Greyface (Border Leicester ♂ × Blackface ♀) and 40 North Country Cheviot ewes, due to lamb to a Suffolk ram in April 1969, were housed during December 1968 in eight groups of 10 ewes, the breeds being penned separately.2. One pen of each breed received a basal diet of either hay, grass silage or arable silage with a ‘high’ level of concentrate supplementation and one pen of each breed was given hay with a ‘low’ level of concentrate supplementation. Within each pen, five of the 10 ewes were clipped at housing and the other five were clipped in the following June.3. Voluntary intakes of the basal diets declined with advancing stage of pregnancy, particularly for those receiving grass silage. Feed had no differential effects on the performance of the ewes in terms of wool yield, body-weight change, birth weight of lamb per ewe or perinatal lamb mortality.4. The Greyfaces clipped at housing yielded less wool than those Greyfaces clipped in the following June. Time of clipping had no influence on the wool yield of the Cheviots. Wool grades were not affected by time of clipping. Ewes clipped in December performed significantly better than ewes not clipped until June with a higher proportion of ewes producing multiple births (P<0·1), a higher total birth weight of lamb per ewe (P<0·01) and a reduced perinatal mortality of the lambs (P<0·05). The total effect of this improved performance was that the clipped ewes produced 53 ·5 % more live lambs than those ewes not clipped until the following June.


1987 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Gill ◽  
D. E. Beever ◽  
P. J. Buttery ◽  
P. England ◽  
M. J. Gibb ◽  
...  

SummaryThe effect of oestradiol-17β on the response to fishmeal supplementation of grass silage was studied in young growing cattle. Voluntary intake and live-weight gain were recorded over 63 days with 36 British Friesian male castrates (initial live weight (LW) 119 kg) offered silage alone (C) or with 50 (FM1), 100 (FM2), or 150 (FM3) g fishmeal/kg silage dry matter. Twelve calves were allocated to each of treatments C and FM3 and six to treatments FM1 and FM2. Half of the calves on each treatment were ear-implanted with oestradiol-17β (Compudose 365) at the start of the experiment. The calves on treatments C and FM3 were slaughtered after 75 days and chemical analysis conducted on half of each carcass. The silage had an organic-matter digestibility in vivo of 0·794 and was well-fermented, with a pH of 3·7. Intake averaged 24·2±0·42 g D.M./kg LW over all the treatments and live-weight gain was 0·77 kg/day on the silage alone. There was a significant (P < 0·05) interaction between fishmeal and oestradiol-17β, such that response to the hormone was observed only in the presence of fishmeal at 100 or 150 g/kg silage D.M. A similar interaction was apparent between fishmeal at 150 g/kg silage D.M. and oestradiol-17β in the final weights of empty body and carcass. This level of fishmeal also increased protein gain from 96 to 147 g/day and this was further increased to 179 g/day in the implanted animals receiving fishmeal. However, the overall effect of oestradiol-17β on protein gain was not significant. Gross efficiency of energy utilization was significantly (P < 0·01) increased by fishmeal supplementation suggesting an improved balance of nutrients compared with the silage alone diet.


1990 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Beever ◽  
M. Gill ◽  
J. M. Dawson ◽  
P. J. Buttery

The effect of two levels of fishmeal substitution (50 (FM1) and 150 (FM2) g/kg) of a grass silage control diet (C) on the rumen digestion of organic matter and nitrogen, and the small intestinal disappearance of amino acids was examined in young growing cattle each equipped with simple PVC cannulas in the dorsal sac of the reticulo-rumen, the proximal duodenum and the terminal ileum. The silage was a primary growth of perennial ryegrass (Lnlium pevenne) (+formic acid) with a total N content of 22 g/kg dry matter (DM) (diet C). Fishmeal substitution increased this to 26 (diet FM1) and 34 (diet FM2) g/kg DM. On diets C and FM1, approximately 0.71 of digestible organic matter intake was apparently digested in the rumen, but this was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced on diet FM2 (0.60). Whilst duodenal flows of non-ammonia N and total amino acids were significantly (P < 001) increased at the highest level of fishmeal inclusion only, the synthesis of microbial N was significantly (P < 0.001) reduced by fishmeal inclusion, and feed N degradability declined progressively in response to increased fishmeal. Both levels of fishmeal addition caused a significant (P< 0.05) reduction in the fractional outflow rate of water from the rumen, and on the highest level of fishmeal significant (P< 0.05) increases in rumen ammonia concentration and rumen propionate molar proportions were observed. The net effect of the highest level of fishmeal substitution was to increase amino acid absorption from the small intestine by 0.47 compared with the control diet (P< 0.05), but due to an elevated ileal flow of amino acid no such effect was detected at the lowest level of fishmeal substitution. Composition of the absorbed amino acid fraction was relatively unaffected by the treatments imposed, despite large changes in the composition of the duodenal protein. The apparent non-linearity of response to fishmeal substitution is discussed and the amino acid supply findings are compared with the protein retention findings obtained in an earlier study by Gill et al. (1987). By two methods of calculation it was estimated that the amino acid N fraction disappearing from the small intestine was utilized with an efficiency of between 0.51 and 0.53 and no apparent effects due to diet or level of amino acid supply were detected.


1992 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sanderson ◽  
C. Thomas ◽  
A. B. McAllan

AbstractSeventy-two, 4-month-old, British Friesian steers were used to investigate the effects of feeding a supplement of fish meal on the voluntary intake and live-weight gain by young growing cattle given a well preserved ryegrass silage. The silage was offered either alone or mixed with 50,100 or 150 g fish meal per kg silage dry matter (DM) and the diets were offered either ad libitum or intakes were restricted to 16, 19 or 22 g dietary DM per kg live weight (LW). Intakes were recorded daily, LW weekly and in vivo apparent digestibility over one 7-day period during the 132-day trial.For animals fed ad libitum, the absolute intake of dietary DM increased linearly with an increase in the level of fish-meal supplementation such that intake when the highest level of fish meal was given was significantly higher (P < 0·01) than when silage was given alone. However, DM intake per unit LW (approx. 24 g DM per kg LW) was not affected significantly (P > 0·05).Inclusion of fish meal in the diet did not affect the apparent digestibility of dietary DM, organic matter, acid-detergent or neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) although there was a trend for slightly higher (P > 0·05) gross energy apparent digestibility when fish meal was given. Increasing the level of feeding reduced NDF digestibility. The coefficients measured at the 22 g and ad libitum levels of intake were lower (P < 0·01 and P < 0·05 respectively) than that measured at the 16 g DM per kg LW level.Animals given silage alone to appetite achieved LW gains of 0·6 kg/day. LW gains increased linearly with increasing level of feeding (P < 0·001) and increasing level offish-meal supplementation (P < 0·001).


Author(s):  
P S Kirby ◽  
N A Watson ◽  
D G Rennie ◽  
T O Jones

Results from three previous experiments with finishing cattle on an 18-month beef system indicate that the major increases in daily live-weight gain (DLG) occur within the first 50 to 60 days of supplementation with fish meal. Hence, it may be possible to remove fish meal from the diet after the initial two months of the finishing winter without any subsequent effect on animal performance.For the last nine weeks at grass the experimental cattle were given 1.4-kg/head/day dried sugar beet pulp nuts. On housing this allowance was increased to 3.0 kg and the 48 British Friesian steers were offered grass silage ad libitum (round bale silage for one week and precision-chopped clamp silage thereafter). The 3.0-kg dried sugar beet pulp was given for five days and after a 10-day changeover period the nuts were replaced by 15-kg potatoes. Cattle were offered the basal diet of precision-chopped silage and potatoes for 12 days before starting the experiment.Steers were implanted with 300-mg trenbolone acetate (Finaplix, Hoechst UK Ltd, Milton Keynes) and 36-mg zeranol (Ralgro, Crown Chemical Company Ltd, Lamberhurst) 20 days before randomisation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 699-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. erez ◽  
J. Balcells ◽  
J. A. Guada ◽  
C. Castrillo

The present study compares estimates of rumen microbial-N production derived from duodenal flow measurements (15N and purine bases) with those from measurements of the urinary excretion of purine derivatives. Four Rasa Aragonesa ewes fitted with simple cannulas in the rumen and proximal duodenum were used. Four diets consisting of 550 g lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay/d as sole feed or supplemented with 220, 400 and 550 g rolled barley grain/d were given in a 4 x 4 random factorial arrangement. Duodenal digesta flows were determined by the dual-phase marker technique during continuous intraruminal infusions of Co-EDTA and Yb-acetate. Microbial contribution to the non-NH3N (NAN)flow was estimated from 15N enrichment and purines: N ratio in duodenal digesta and bacterial fractions isolated from the rumen content. Whole tract organic matter (OM) digestibility and duodenal flow of OM and NAN increased (P<0·001) with the level of barley supplementation. Digestible OM intake ranged from 19·0 to 42·7 g/kg metabolic weight (W0·75) and the duodenal flow of purine bases and the urinary excretion of allantoin increased Linearly (P < 0·001) from minimum values of 7·47 (SD 1·524)and 4·65 (SD 0·705) mmol/d respectively on the basal diet to 18·20 (SD 1·751) and 11·62 (SD 0·214) mmol/d on the 400 g barley diet; a further increase in barley supplementation decreased both variables (13/50 (SD 2/334) and 8/77 (SD 0/617) mmol/d respectively). Urinary excretion of uric acid and hypoxanthine showed a slight but significant increase (P < 0·05) over all levels of barley. Molar recoveries of duodenal purine bases as purine derivatives or allantoin in the urine were 0·78 (SD 0·156) and 0·65 (SD 0·130) respectively. The increase on barley supplementation significantly augmented microbial-N, but large differences between microbial markers employed were observed. Mean values of microbial-N estimated from the duodenal purine bases or urinary allantoin excretion were on average 18 and 29% lower than those measured by 15N.


1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Keane ◽  
M. P. Read ◽  
A. P. Moloney

AbstractArdacin is an antibacterial glycopeptide with ruminal activity. The objective of this study was to measure its effects on food intake and growth rate of growing and finishing steers. Two experiments were carried out simultaneously using the same foods and the same ardacin supplementation levels. In experiment 1, 72 growing steers (8 months old and 240 kg initial weight) in four treatment groups were individually offered a basal diet of grass silage ad libitum. In experiment 2, 44 finishing steers (19 months old and 463 kg initial weight), also in four treatment groups were individually offered a basal diet of grass silage ad libitum plus 3 kg (5 kg for the final 28 days) concentrates per head daily. The four treatments were 0, 50, 125 and 210 mg ardacin per head daily incorporated into 1 kg ground barley. This was offered in addition to the basal diet. The duration of the experimental period was 154 days after which 48 of the growing steers were put to pasture for a 196-day grazing season. The finishing steers were slaughtered following a withdrawal period of 7 days. Mean daily silage dry-matter intakes, and mean daily total metabolizable energy intakes for the treatments as listed above were 4·91, 5·15, 5·10 and 5·03 (s.e. 0·083) kg and 63, 66, 65 and 65 (s.e. 0·7) MJ (experiment 1), and 5·63, 5·62, 5·51 and 5·54 (s.e. 0·059) kg and 108, 108, 107 and 107 (s.e. 0·4) MJ (experiment 2), respectively. In the same order, mean daily live-weight gains during the treatment period were 612, 758, 784 and 798 (s.e. 25·2) g (experiment 1) and 911, 942, 851 and 860 (s.e. 40·0) g (experiment 2). In the growing steers proportionately 0·64 of the weight response to ardacin was retained to the end of the following grazing season. It is concluded that ardacin supplementation increased live-weight gain and improved the efficiency of conversion of food to live weight in growing steers but had no significant effect on finishing steers in this study.


1966 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. Ørskov ◽  
D. M. Allen

1. An experiment was conducted in which sodium and calcium salts of acetic, propionic and butyric acids were given to groups of eight lambs as additions to basal diets of hay and concentrate. Two control groups were included, one group which received only the basal ration and one high-level control group which received sufficient additional concentrate to achieve growth rates greater than those of the groups receiving volatile fatty acid (VFA) salts. 2. With rumen-fistulated sheep, the effect on the rumen VFA composition and the pH of the rumen liquor, of diets supplemented with VFA salts given twice daily, was also investigated and compared with the effect of the basal diet alone. 3. The lambs receiving the VFA salts grew faster and achieved significantly greater empty body and carcass weights than those receiving only the basal rations; the high-level control group had significantly greater empty body and carcass weights than groups receiving salts of VFA. 4. There were no differences approaching significance in the efficiency of the three VFA in promoting gains in live weight, empty body weight and carcass weight. There appeared to be equal efficiency of utilization of the gross energy of the VFA and of the calculatedmetabolizable energy of the concentrates. 5. The effect of twice-daily feeding on the rumen VFA composition was that the concentration of the supple- mentary acid was greatest shortly after feeding, and about 5–6 h after feeding the effect was difficult to detect. There were no differences in the pH of the rumen liquor between animals given diets containing VFA salts and those given the basal ration.


1969 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Forbes ◽  
J. J. Robinson

SUMMARYTwo experiments were carried out to study the energy requirements of young fattening lambs for maintenance and production. Forty weaned lambs were used in each experiment, 20 being allocated to a high level of feeding (900 g air-dry feed per day) and 20 to a low level (540 g). The animals used in Experiment 1 were approximately 12 months of age and their mean live weight was 35·3±4·03 kg. Those in Experiment 2 were approximately seven months of age and their mean live weight was 36·7 ± 4·57 kg. Experiment 1 continued for 100 days and Experiment 2 for 47 days. Three digestibility trials, involving three animals from each feeding level, were carried out during the course of each experiment to obtain precise estimates of digestible organic matter intake (DOMI). The estimated mean DOMI required for maintenance for a 45-kg lamb was 400 g (0·88 lb) or 1500 kcal metabolizable energy per day. The estimated maintenance requirement was not affected by the age of the animal. The DOMI required for production ranged from 1·55 kg per kg live-weight gain for the younger animals to 1·71 kg for the older animals. Both these requirements were lower than those obtained by other workers and those suggested by the Agricultural Research Council (1965).


1997 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Pérez ◽  
J. Balcells ◽  
J. A. Guada ◽  
C. Castrillo

AbstractFour ewes fitted with ruminal and duodenal T-piece cannulae were each given six diets in a 6 × 4 factorial design. Diets or experimental treatments consisted of two ratios of forage: concentrate (700:150 (LC) and 400: 600 (HO). Forage was ammonia-treated straw and the concentrate was formulated with barley supplemented with one of three protein sources: sunflower meal, soya-bean meal or fish meal. Duodenal flows ofdigesta were estimated by the dual-phase technique using Co-EDTA and Yb acetate as liquid and solid markers. Microbial nitrogen (N) was estimated from the digesta flow of purine bases and 15N enrichment using as reference samples, bacterial isolates from the liquid (LAB) or solid (SAB) phase of rumen digesta.Duodenal flow of purine bases (mmol/day) was lower on LC (12·9) than HC (17·7) diets but in both treatments it was depressed by fish meal (12·3) compared with either soya-bean (17·3) or sunflower meal (16·3) as supplements (s.e. 1·13). Urinary excretion of purine derivatives showed a similar trend, 8·6 v. III mmol/day in LC and HC respectively and 8·8 v. 10·4 and 10·5 mmol/day in fish meal, soya-bean and sunflower meal diets (s.e. 0·56), respectively. Variation in excretion of urinary purine derivatives was mainly associated with digestible organic matter intake with an average ratio of 1·7 (s.e. 0·11) mmol per 100 g digestible organic matter intake. Irrespective of the microbial marker used, microbial yield was higher in animals offered HC than in those offered LC and with soya-bean or sunflower meal compared with fish meal supplemented diets. The microbial purine bases/N (mmol/g) ratio varied between LAB (1·99, s.e. 0·092) and SAB (1·69, s.e. 0·071) isolates leading to different estimates of microbial-N yield (g) from duodenal purine bases (7·76 (s.e. 2·84) v. 9·13 (s.e. 3·24)), urinary excretion of allantoin (5·57 (s.e. 2·0) v. 6·57 (s.e. 2·03)) or total purine derivatives (6·43 (s.e. 2·39) v. 7·56 (s.e. 2·77)). Urinary excretion of allantoin or total purine derivatives provided consistently lower estimates of duodenal microbial-N than duodenal purine bases or 15N, although it closely reflected the pattern observed in direct measurements.


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