Red clover silage: an alternative for mitigating the impact of nitrogen excretion in ovine production systems

Abstract

The objective was to quantify the flow of intestinal nutrients and nitrogen excretion and retention in sheep receiving isoproteic diets. Eight Texel × Lacaune wethers (average body weight = 25±2.5 kg) were fitted with duodenal cannula and housed in metabolic cages. Wethers were assigned to the treatments in a crossover design with two periods of 20 days each, and all feces and urine produced by the wethers were collected. The treatments consisted of two isoproteic (160 g kg −1 of crude protein on dry matter basis) diets composed of red clover (RC) or lucerne (LU; Medicago sativa) silages plus corn silage and concentrate feed. The digestible organic matter and metabolizable energy intake did not differ between treatments. The intestinal nonammonia N (NAN) flow was 5.9 g day −1 (37%) higher in RC wethers than in those of the LU treatment. This result was a consequence of both an increase in the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis (12.7% higher) and a decrease in ruminal degradable protein (RDP) content (20% lower) of the diet. However, the increase in the intestinal NAN flow was accompanied by a reduction in intestinal digestibility of N, resulting in similar daily N retention between treatments. The reduction of RDP content was probably the main reason for reductions in N urinary excretion in RC wethers compared with those in the LU treatment, showing that RC silage may be a tool for mitigating the impact of N excretion in ovine production systems, without changes in N retention.

Reinforcing the bulwark: unravelling the efficient applications of plant phenolics and tannins against environmental stresses

“…Tannins are present in almost all herbs, shrubs, fruits, and legumes on the earth. There are important studies including on sorghum ( Guzatti et al . , 2019 ), pomegranate ( Santino et al., 2017 ), tea, wine ( Hassanpour et al., 2011 ).…”

Opportunities Offered by Plant Bioactive Compounds to Improve Silage Quality, Animal Health and Product Quality for Sustainable Ruminant Production: A Review

“…Note, however, that as PPO is inactive in the anaerobic conditions of the rumen, the protection of plant protein can only be the result of pre-ingestive events [42]. In vivo, a significant reduction of rumen NH 3 release per unit of dietary N consumed is observed for red clover-containing silages compared with other forages [43,44], reflected by a higher flow of non-NH 3 -N to the small intestine corresponding to undegraded or partially degraded dietary protein. This results in an increase in N use efficiency when dietary N intake is balanced.…”