N balance experiments were carried out with lambs of the ages of 8, 12 and 15 weeks fed with wheat rations with and without 2% urea supplement (N 1 and N 2) as well as with 3% urea and 20% straw (N 3) or with a soya bean meal supplement (N 4). There were no significant differences in the digestibility of the crude nutrients and in per cent of N retention between the individual ages. The straw supplement decreased the digestibility of organic matter, crude protein, crude fibre and NfE. The supplements of soya bean meal or urea increased the crude protein content in comparison to the wheat ration without supplements by 6% in the dry matter and resulted in N intakes 55 ... 60% higher and in 23 ... 38% higher N retention, which was, however, lower in relation to N intake. There were no significant differences with regard to N retention between N 2, N 3 and N 4. Consequently urea supplement to the feed mixture with 14% native crude protein resulted in increased N retention, which was not lower than with a soya bean meal supplement.
In two growth experiments with 30 lambs per group the influence of urea (1-2% of the ration) and straw (20-30% of the ration) on the performance was studied under conditions of intensive fattening. The content of native crude protein in the rations varied between 10.1 and 18.4% of the DM. In experiment 1 the lambs of the two groups which received mixed feed for fattening lambs without urea on average consumed with 1.02 and 1.11 kg DM resp., 696 and 757 EFUcattle resp. and 173 and 189 g crude protein resp. per animal and day. The groups with wheat or barley and urea consumed 1.06 and 0.96 kg DM resp., 714 and 627 EFUcattle resp. and 209 and 155 g crude protein resp. Their weight gain of 247 g/animal and day was 24% and that of 230 g resp. 26% higher than that in the control groups without urea. The lowest dry matter intake (0.91 and 0.82 kg resp.) was shown by the animals of the groups which received wheat or barley without urea. In the second experiment the control group achieved an average daily weight gain of 327 g at an expenditure of 2.24 kEFUcattle/kg weight gain. Despite a partly higher dry matter intake, the daily EFUcattle intake was between 12.2 and 24.5% lower in the straw groups and energy expenditure increased between 12.0 and 27.8%. Urea supplements of between 1 and 2% improved dry matter, EFUcattle and crude protein intake and thus weight gain.
Subsequent to a growth experiment with intensively fattened lambs the value of the carcasses of 4 animals each from 7 groups was determined. The control groups with mixed fattening feed for lambs and the groups with wheat and barley mixtures containing urea showed higher carcass yields, net gains, fat percentage and padding, dry matter and fat content of the carcass and lower quotas of important cuts as well as a lower crude protein content in the carcass than groups with grain without urea and groups with straw. This is due to the higher weight gains of the first-mentioned groups. There were no significant differences in the carcass characteristics between the animals of the control group and the grain-urea groups. The carcass quality of the male lambs was better than that of the female ones.
In experiment with 14-week-old lambs a combination of semisynthetic rations containing 1.2% or 0.7% resp. native crude protein an intraruminal infusion of urea clearly influenced the biologic processes in the rumen. The molar quotas of butyric and valeric acid in comparison with acetic were high. The lambs could cope with infused amounts of 0.67 g urea/kg body weight if they received the daily amount of 1.35 g/kg body weight in two parts. When more than 1.9 g/kg body weight were applied, feed intake decreased even though the daily amount was distributed over 4 doses. In 10 out of 16 lambs N retention was, in dependence on the urea amounts infused, higher than the N amount retained from native crude protein. The result indicates that urea is utilized by 14-week-old lambs. Growing energy and N intake had a positive influence on the N balance.
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