Digestion of concentrates in sheep

Abstract

1. Diets of rolled barley supplemented with urea or fish meal at four different levels were given in a change-over experiment to four sheep with cannulas in the abomasum and in the terminal ileum.2. Estimates were made of the disappearance of protein, ether extractives, starch, and ash in the various segments of the alimentary canal, and of the production of volatile fatty acids when the urea supplements were given.3. The disappearance (Y, g/d) of non-ammonia crude protein from the small intestine increased with increasing protein intake (X, g/d) on the fish-meal diets according to the equation Y = 0.37X+44. There was no increase in the disappearance with the urea supplements.4. In agreement with earlier work, it was shown that faecal nitrogen excretion was influenced to a much greater extent by fermentation in the large intestine than by that in the rumen. There was an apparent synthesis of ether-extractable lipid in the rumen at rates of 21and 18 g/d with the urea and the fish-meal diets respectively.5. The energy of the volatile fatty acids produced when the urea diets were given was estimated to be 59% of the digestible energy consumed.