Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:03:09.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diurnal patterns in rumen volume and composition of digesta flowing into the duodenum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

M. Gill ,
P. H. Robinson  and
J. J. Kennelly
M. Gill
Affiliation:
Natural Resources International Limited, Chatham Maritime, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB
P. H. Robinson
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, California, 95616-8521, USA
J. J. Kennelly
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2P5, Canada
Get access

Abstract

Rate of passage of digesta out of the rumen is generally assumed to follow first order kinetics but this assumption may not hold within 24-h feeding cycles. Four lactating cows offered a mixed forage/concentrate diet ad libitum from 08.00 h to 00.00 h and a protein-rich meal at either 08.30 or 00.30 h were used to investigate diurnal patterns in rumen volume and composition of digesta flowing into the duodenum. Cows were fitted with large rumen cannulae to permit complete emptying of rumen digesta and T-piece duodenal cannulae with inserts to enable collection of representative samples of digesta. Chromium-mordanted lucerne hay manually dosed to the rumen at 2-h intervals and a continuous infusion of cobalt-EDTA were used as digesta flow markers. Duodenal digesta was sampled over three alternate days to obtain samples representing every hour of the 24-h day, which were analysed individually. Use of either of the two markers gave similar results for mean daily flow but not for hourly flow and thus hourly flow data were not considered reliable. The content of crude protein in duodenal digesta varied within one feeding cycle from 200 to 320 g/kg in cows offered protein at 08.30 (‘day’) and from 240 to 300 in cows offered protein at 00.30 h (‘night’). On a daily basis, fractional passage rates (calculated from duodenal flow divided by rumen pool size) were significantly (P = 0·016) lower for protein for ‘night’ (0·0750 per h) versus ‘day’ (0·0824 per h) cows. The observation that marked diurnal patterns in the composition of protein flowing into the duodenum can apparently be ‘smoothed’ simply by altering feeding sequence, which was correlated with an increased milk fat yield, suggests there is potential for improving production through manipulating the way in which dietary components are offered within a day.

Rate of passage of digesta out of the rumen is generally assumed to follow first order kinetics but this assumption may not hold within 24-h feeding cycles. Four lactating cows offered a mixed forage/concentrate diet ad libitum from 08.00 h to 00.00 h and a protein-rich meal at either 08.30 or 00.30 h were used to investigate diurnal patterns in rumen volume and composition of digesta flowing into the duodenum. Cows were fitted with large rumen cannulae to permit complete emptying of rumen digesta and T-piece duodenal cannulae with inserts to enable collection of representative samples of digesta. Chromium-mordanted lucerne hay manually dosed to the rumen at 2-h intervals and a continuous infusion of cobalt-EDTA were used as digesta flow markers. Duodenal digesta was sampled over three alternate days to obtain samples representing every hour of the 24-h day, which were analysed individually. Use of either of the two markers gave similar results for mean daily flow but not f or hourly flow and thus hourly flow data were not considered reliable. The content of crude protein in duodenal digesta varied within one feeding cycle from 200 to 320 glkg in cows offered protein at 08.30 day’) and from 240 to 300 in cows offered protein at 00.30 h (‘night’). On a daily basis, fractional passage rates (calculated from duodenal flow divided by rumen pool size) were significantly (? = 0·016) lower for protein for ‘night’ (0·0750 per h) versus ‘day’ (0·0824 per h) cows. The observation that marked diurnal patterns in the composition of protein flowing into the duodenum can apparently be ‘smoothed’ simply by altering feeding sequence, which was correlated with an increased milk fat yield, suggests there is potential for improving production through manipulating the way in which dietary components are offered within a day.

Keywords

dairy cowsdigestadiurnal variationproteinrumen
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , August 1999 , pp. 237 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough, UK.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1984. Report of the Protein Group of the ARC Working Party on the Nutrient Requirements of Ruminants. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough, UK.Google Scholar
Baumont, R., Dulphy, J. P. and Andrieu, J. P. 1988. [Feeding behaviour and reticulo-ruminal fill in sheep fed ad libitum grass hay or lucerne hay with continuous or restricted access: effects on physical control of feed intake.] Reproduction, Nutrition, Développement 28: 573–588.Google Scholar
Faichney, G. J. 1975. The use of markers to partition digestion within the gastro-intestinal tract of ruminants. In Digestion and metabolism in the ruminant (ed. McDonald, I. W. and Warner, A. C. I.), pp. 277–291. University of New England Publishing Unit, Armidale, New South Wales.Google Scholar
Faichney, G. J. 1986. The kinetics of particulate matter in the rumen. In Control of digestion and metabolism in ruminants (ed. L. P. Milligan, Grovum, W. L. and Dobson, A.), pp. 173–195. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Gasa, J., Holtenius, K., Sutton, J. D., Dhanoa, M. S. and Napper, D. J. 1991. Rumen fill and digesta kinetics in lactating Friesian cows given two levels of concentrates with two types of grass silage ad lib . British Journal of Nutrition 66: 381–398.Google ScholarPubMed
Gill, M. 1990. Future representations in whole-animal metabolism models. In Proceedings of the third international workshop on modelling digestion and metabolism in farm animals (ed. Robson, A. B. and Poppi, D. P.), pp. 333–344. Lincoln College, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Gill, M., Sargeant, A. and Evans, R. T. 1987. The effect of type of silage and level of concentrate on pattern of eating in dairy cows. Proceedings of the eighth silage conference, pp. 63–64.Google Scholar
Gill, M., Sargeant, A., Neal, H. D. St C. and Hughes, P. M. 1988. Effect of type of silage on rate of eating in lactating cows. Animal Production 46: 488 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Harris, L. E. and Phillipson, A. T. 1962. The measurement of the flow of food to the duodenum of sheep. Animal Production 4: 97–116.Google Scholar
Komarek, R. J. 1981. Intestinal cannulation of cattle and sheep fitted with a T-shaped cannula designed for total digesta collection without externalizing flow. Journal of Animal Science 53: 796–802.Google Scholar
Moshtaghi Nia, S. A., Robinson, P. H., Gill, M., Ingalls, J. R. and Kennelly, J. J. 1995. Influence of feeding a rapidly degraded dietary protein at night or with a basal mixed ration on performance of dairy cows. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 75: 575–582.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1989. Nutrient requirements of dairy cattle, sixth revised edition. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
O’Connor, J. D., Robinson, P. H., Sniffen, C. J. and Allen, M. S. 1984. A gastrointestinal tract simulation model of digesta flow in ruminants. In Techniques in particle size analysis of feed and digesta in ruminants (ed. Kennedy, P. M.). Canadian Society of Animal Science, occasional publication no. 1, pp. 102–122.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Ojwang, I. and Reid, G. W. 1988. A study on the consistency of differences between cows in rumen outflow rate of fibrous particles and other substrates and consequences for digestibility and intake of roughages. Animal Production 47: 45–51.Google Scholar
Phillips, G. D. and Dyck, G. W. 1964. The flow of digesta into the duodenum of sheep. Canadian journal of Animal Science 44: 220–227.Google Scholar
Reynolds, C. K. and Huntington, G. B. 1988a. Partition of portal-drained visceral net flux in beef steers. 1. Blood flow and net flux of oxygen, glucose and nitrogenous compounds across the stomach and post-stomach tissues. British Journal of Nutrition 60: 539–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, C. K. and Huntington, G. B. 1988b. Partition of portal-drained visceral net flux in beef steers. 2. Net flux of volatile fatty acids, D-ßhydroxy-butyrate and L-lactate across the stomach and post-stomach tissues. British journal of Nutrition 60: 553–562.Google ScholarPubMed
Robinson, P. H., Fadel, J. G. and Tamminga, S. 1986. Evaluation of mathematical models to describe neutral detergent residue in terms of its susceptibility to degradation in the rumen. Animal Feed Science and Technology 15: 249–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, P. H., Gill, M. and Kennelly, J. J. 1997. Influence of time of feeding a protein meal on ruminai fermentation and forestomach digestion in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 80: 1366–1373.Google Scholar
Robinson, P. H. and Kennelly, J. J. 1990. Evaluation of a duodenal cannula for dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 73: 3146–3157.Google ScholarPubMed
Robinson, P. H., Smith, D. F. and Sniffen, C. J. 1985. Development of a one-piece re-entrant cannula for the proximal duodenum of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 68: 986–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1985. User’s guide: statistics, version 5 edition. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Thiago, L. R. L. 1988. Voluntary intake of forages by ruminants: factors related to eating behaviour and rumen fill. Ph.D. thesis, University of Reading. Google Scholar
Thiago, L. R. L., Gill, M. and Sissons, J. 1992. Studies of method of conserving grass herbage and frequency of feeding in cattle. 2. Eating behaviour, rumen motility and rumen fill. British Journal of Nutrition 67: 319–336.Google ScholarPubMed
Uden, P., Colucci, P. E. and Van Soest, P. J. 1980. Investigation of chromium, cerium and cobalt as markers in digesta rate of passage studies. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 31: 625–632.Google ScholarPubMed
Wenham, G. and Wyburn, R. S. 1980. A radiological investigation of the effects of cannulation on intestinal motility and digesta flow in sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 95: 539–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar