Differentiation of the effects of protein status and acid-base balance on the appetite of sheep for lucerne silage

Abstract

SUMMARYFive cross-bred Suffolk lambs (liveweight 24–29 kg) were fed lucerne silage and made acidotic or offered supplemental protein with the objective of determining the effects of acidosis and amino acid undersupply on food intake from silage. In this study, at McGill University, Quebec, Canada in January 1989, lucerne silage (25% DM) was supplemented with equimolar amounts (450 mmol/kg DM) of ammonium chloride, ammonium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate; fishmeal was added at 100 g/kg silage DM. The lambs were fedad libitumaccording to a 5 × 5 Latin square with 21-day periods.Digestibility of organic matter (OM) from silage ranged from 78 to 82% and was not significantly affected by diet (P> 0·05). Voluntary intake of digestible organic matter (DOM) from silage was. Fishmeal supplementation of lucerne silage improved nitrogen retention (P> 0·05) but not intake of DOM. The addition of ammonium chloride to silage reduced blood concentration (p< 0·05) and urinary output of HCO3, increased ammonia excretion in urine (P< 0·05), and depressed intake of DOM (P< 0·05). Ammonium bicarbonate also reduced voluntary intake of DOM (P< 0·05) but had no significant effect (P> 0·05) on the acid-base status of the lambs. Sodium bicarbonate depressed food intake but had no significant effect on measures of acid-base balance.The results suggest that metabolic acidosis is not an underlying mechanism restricting food intake by sheep and that neither acid-base imbalance nor inadequate protein status is likely to explain the limitation in food intake from ensiled lucerne.