Effect of colostomy on the utilisation of dietary nitrogen in the fowl fed on a low protein diet

Abstract

1. The effect of the inhibition of urine back-flow into the colon and caeca by colostomy on the utilisation of dietary nitrogen by fowls fed on a low protein diet and receiving free or restricted water supply was investigated. 2. Colostomy caused an increase in water excretion and a resultant increase in water intake to maintain water balance. 3. Colostomy tended to decrease nitrogen balance and nitrogen utilisation (N balance/N intake) to negative values, and these decreases became significant when water was restricted (P less than 0.05). 4. Excretory uric acid, ammonia, urea and total nitrogen were significantly increased after colostomy in water-restricted fowls (P less than 0.05), but such significant effects were not observed, except for ammonia, in fowls given water ad libitum. 5. It is concluded that the back-flow of urine into the caeca plays a significantly useful role in the utilisation of nitrogen in the fowl fed on a low protein diet especially when water intake is restricted.

Anatomical Relationship Between Enkephalin‐Containing Neurones and Caecum‐Projecting Neurones in the Chicken Intestinal Nerve

“…Uric acid is retrogradely carried from the cloaca to the caeca and microbially converted to amino acids and volatile fatty acids in the caeca (Denbow, 2000). The back flow of uric acid into the caeca played a significantly useful role in the utilization of nitrogen in the chicken fed on a low protein diet (Karasawa and Maeda, 1992). Caecectomy resulted in slightly lower metabolizability of food, lower digestibility of crude fibre and greater loss of certain amino acids (Chaplin, 1989).…”

Estimation of the chemical composition of black grouse Tetrao tetrix diets in the eastern Italian Alps

“…In this period, the composition of the black grouse diet decreased in protein content, in spite of the requirements to complete the moult. This low level of protein content could be compensated for by refluxes of urine into the cloaca and recycling of nitrogen from uric acid (Karasawa & Maeda 1992, 1994, Mortenson & Tindall 1981a, 1981b) and, in young birds, the consumption of insects. As autumn advances, the supply of berries decreases, and the vegetative parts of bilberry and Rhododendron spp.…”