Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:19:15.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effect of organic matter digestibility on obligatory faecal phosphorus loss in lactating goats, determined from balance data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

M. Rodehutscord
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Bonn, Endenicher Allee 15, 53115 Bonn, Germany
H. Heuvers
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Bonn, Endenicher Allee 15, 53115 Bonn, Germany
E. Pfeffer
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Bonn, Endenicher Allee 15, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Get access

Abstract

Obligatory faecal phosphorus (P) losses in ruminants are commonly regarded as depending on dry-matter (DM) intake. This study was designed to investigate whether it is the digestible or the indigestible fraction of the diet which causes the obligatory faecal P loss. Three groups of six lactating goats each were given a diet consisting of maize silage, chaffed barley straw and a low P concentrate achieving a DM intake of 1·76 kg/day. Goats of two groups were given approximately 0·4 kg/day supplementary DM either in the form of sawdust or in the form of potato starch. Organic matter digestibility, determined by difference, was 0·15 for sawdust and 0·79 for potato starch. Goats were kept in balance crates and milk as well as faeces and urine were quantitatively collected. P intake was 2·9 g/day in unsupplemented goats and slightly higher (3·2 and 3·0 g/day, respectively) when sawdust or starch were supplemented. Urinary P output was very low (23 mg/day) and not affected by treatment. Milk yield and milk P output were 2·5 kg/day and 2·4 g/day, respectively, and not affected by treatment either. Compared with the goats without supplementary DM, faecal P output was higher in goats given supplementary starch but not in goats given supplementary sawdust. Increase in faecal P output due to starch supplementation exceeded the increase in P intake from starch by more than a factor of 4. When related to DM intake, faecal P excretion was significantly different between treatments (P = 0·058). The variation between treatments became even greater when faecal P output was related to indigestible organic matter intake (P < 0·001). When related to organic matter intake, however, differences in faecal P output between treatments were not significant (P = 0·445). It is concluded, that obligatory faecal P losses depend on the digestible fraction of the diet rather than on the indigestible fraction.

Type
Ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2000

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 and Food Research Council. 1991. A reappraisal of the calcium and phosphorous requirements of sheep and cattle. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews (Series B) 61: 573612.Google Scholar
Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1992. Nutritive requirements of ruminant animals: protein. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews (Series B) 62: 787835.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Armstrong, D.G. and Hutton, K. 1975. Fate of nitrogenous compounds entering the small intestine. In Digestion and metabolism in the ruminant (ed. McDonald, I.W. and Warner, A.C.I.), pp. 432447. University of New England Publishing Unit, Armidale.Google Scholar
Ausschuß für Bedarfsnormen. 1993. [Revised recommendations for the supply of calcium and phosphorus to dairy cows.] Proceedings of the Society of Nutrition Physiology, vol. 1, pp. 108113.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, G.D. 1984. Some observations on phosphorus homoeostasis and requirement of sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 102: 295306.Google Scholar
Breves, G. 1991. [Physiology of gastro-intestinal P metabolism and consequences of a deficient P supply in small ruminants.] Übersichten zur Tierernährung 19: 2344.Google Scholar
Breves, G. and Schröder, B. 1991. Comparative aspects of gastrointestinal phosphorus metabolism. Nutrition Research Reviews 4: 125140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Field, A.C., Woolliams, J.A., Dingwall, R.A. and Munro, C.S. 1984. Animal and dietary variation in the absorption and metabolism of phosphorus by sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 103: 283291.Google Scholar
Klosch, M., Richter, G.H., Schneider, A., Flachowsky, G. and Pfeffer, E. 1997. [Effect of diet composition on faecal P output of growing cattle at different body weight.] Archives of Animal Nutrition 50: 163172.Google Scholar
Koddebusch, L. and Pfeffer, E. 1988. [Availability of phosphorus from different sources to goats.] Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 60: 269275.Google Scholar
Komisarczuk, S., Merry, R.J. and McAllan, A.B. 1987. Effect of different levels of phosphorus on rumen microbial fermentation and synthesis determined using a continuous culture technique. British Journal of Nutrition 57: 279290.Google Scholar
Lofgreen, G.P. and Kleiber, M. 1953. The availability of the phosphorus in alfalfa hay. Journal of Animal Science 12: 366371.Google Scholar
Lofgreen, G.P. and Kleiber, M. 1954. Further studies on the availability of phosphorus in alfalfa hay. Journal of Animal Science 13: 258264.Google Scholar
Martz, E.A., Belo, A.T., Weiss, M.F., Belyea, R.L. and Goff, J.P. 1990. True absorption of calcium and phosphorus from alfalfa and corn silage when fed to lactating cows. Journal of Dairy Science 73: 12881295.Google Scholar
Naumann, C. and Bassler, R. 1976. [Chemical analysis of feed stuffs.] Neumann-Neudamm, Melsungen.Google Scholar
Nevel, B.J. van and Demeyer, D.I. 1977. Determination of rumen microbial growth in vitro from 32P-labelled phosphate incorporation. British Journal of Nutrition 38: 101114.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, E. 1989. Phosphorus requirements in goats. In Recent progress on mineral nutrition and mineral requirements in ruminants. Proceedings of the international meeting on recent progress on mineral nutrition and mineral requirement in ruminants, pp. 4246.Google Scholar
Potthast, V., Moctar, M., Abdel Rahman, K. and Pfeffer, E. 1976. [Studies on secretion and absorption of salivary P in sheep.] Zeitschrift für Tierphysiologie, Tierernährung und Futtermittelkunde 36: 334340.Google Scholar
Rodehutscord, M., Pauen, A., Windhausen, P. and Pfeffer, E. 1994. Balances of phosporus and calcium in dairy goats during periods of phosphorus depletion and subsequent phosphorus repletion. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 72: 5764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohr, K., Lebzien, P., Schafft, H. and Schulz, E. 1986. Prediction of duodenal flow of non-ammonia nitrogen and amino acid nitrogen in dairy cows. Livestock Production Science 14: 2940.Google Scholar
Scott, D. and Buchan, W. 1987. The effects of feeding either hay or grass diets on salivary phosphorus secretion, net intestinal phosphorus absorption and on the partition of phosphorus excretion between urine and faeces in the sheep. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology 72: 331338.Google Scholar
Scott, D., Rajaratne, A.A.J. and Buchan, W. 1995. Factors affecting faecal endogenous phosphorus loss in the sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 124: 145151.Google Scholar
Spiekers, H., Brintrup, R., Balmelli, M. and Pfeffer, E. 1993. Influence of dry matter intake on faecal phosphorus losses in dairy cows fed rations low in phosphorus. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 69: 3743.Google Scholar
Ternouth, J.H., Bortolussi, G., Coates, D.B., Hendricksen, R.E. and McLean, R.W. 1996. The phosphorus requirements of growing cattle consuming forage diets. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 126: 503510.Google Scholar
Tomas, F.M. 1974. Phosphorus homeostasis in the sheep. 2. Influence of diet on the pathway of excretion of phosphorus. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 25: 485493.Google Scholar