Evaluation of ruminal, intestinal and total digestion of the organic matter, crude protein in bovine rations neutral detergent fiber

Abstract

Three ruminant and duodenal fistulated steers (300 kg) were used in a 3x3 Latin square design to evaluate protein sources in the rations, on the ruminant, intestinal and total digestion of the organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). The treatments were composed of three rations with: urea (UR), feather meal (FEM) and corn gluten meal (CGM). The animals were fed daily at 8:00 am and 4:00 p.m. and, at the same time 5 g of Cr₂O₃ were introduced in the rumen. Periods lasted 14 days out of 11 days were used for adaptation to the ration and 3 days were used for the sample collection. During 72 hours duodenal contents and feces were collected, every 6 hours. The protein sources did not influence (p > 0.05) the OM intake or the partial/total digestibility. Among the treatments there were differences (p < 0.05) in the CP intake. The CGM treatment had a higher (p < 0.05) duodenal flow protein. The FEM treatment had CP the smallest (p < 0.05) total digestibility (g/day). Although, there were differences in the fiber intake, the ruminant and total (%) digestibility were not influenced (p > 0.05) by the treatments. Despite the protein sources used for this evaluation presented degradation differences, there were not effects in total digestibility for OM, CP and NDF.