Studies on the nutritive value of some common Egyptian feedingstuffs. I. Nitrogen retention and ruminal ammonia curves

Abstract

1. Ten successive trials with two Rahmany adult ewes were carried out with the aim of comparing the nutritive values of the nitrogenous constituents of some concentrates used in Egypt as supplements in summer rations (decorticated cottonseed cake, linseed-oil meal and beans (Vicia faba)) and of animal proteins (meat meal, fish meal and casein) and of barseem (Trifolium alexandrinum). Wheat straw was employed as the main roughage in the ration. Nitrogen intake for all supplements was 10·16 g./day.2. Apparent digestion coefficients for crude protein were estimated. Casein had the highest digestibility coefficient while meat meal was the least digestible.3. Nitrogen retention and ruminal ammonia curves are given for each period. Only three proteins, namely, barseem, cottonseed cake and linseed meal gave positive nitrogen balance at the critical level of nitrogen intake used throughout the trials. Fish meal improved nitrogen retention significantly. Meat meal and beans did not improve nitrogen retention. The addition of 70 g. starch to beans improved nitrogen retention significantly.

An assessment of the value of plasma urea nitrogen and albumin concentrations as monitors of the protein status of sheep

“…A large proportion of ammonia produced in the rumen may be absorbed if its incorporation into microbial protein is reduced by lack of energy for microbial growth (Chalmers and Synge, 1954;Lewis, 1957;el-Shazly, 1958;Tagari, Dror, Ascarelli and Bondi, 1964;Abou Akkada and Osman, 1967). A large proportion of ammonia produced in the rumen may be absorbed if its incorporation into microbial protein is reduced by lack of energy for microbial growth (Chalmers and Synge, 1954;Lewis, 1957;el-Shazly, 1958;Tagari, Dror, Ascarelli and Bondi, 1964;Abou Akkada and Osman, 1967).…”

Further studies on the prediction of the nutritive value of protein for ruminants

“…9 premises. The first is that legumes contain a large " amount of soluble proteins which are easily dep, graded into ammonia in the rumen (Lewis, 1957;Annison, 1956;el-Shazly, 1958;McDonald, 1962). §…”

The Effect of Different Rations on the Number of Free Ruminal Bacteria in Sheep

“…However, because ruminant bacteria serve as a source of nutrients to the host animal and due to their high nutritive value (McNaught et al, 1954), the determination of the diurnal changes in ruminal bacteria may serve as a good index of the nutritive value of different diets. El-Shazly (1958) has shown that only berseem, cotton-seed cake, and linseed meal gave positive nitrogeni balance in his studies on the nutritive values of different concentrates. It has been pointed out earlier that these three concentrates gave a similar type of curve for the diurnal changes in ruminal bacteria.…”