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Nitrogen partitioning and isotopic discrimination are affected by age and dietary protein content in growing lambs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2019

M. Bernard ,
L. Cheng ,
C. Chantelauze ,
Y. Song ,
A. Jeanleboeuf ,
L. Sagot  and
G. Cantalapiedra-Hijar
M. Bernard
Affiliation:
INRA, UE Herbipôle, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
L. Cheng
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Dookie Campus, The University of Melbourne, VIC 3647, Australia
C. Chantelauze
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
Y. Song
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Dookie Campus, The University of Melbourne, VIC 3647, Australia
A. Jeanleboeuf
Affiliation:
Lycée agricole de Radinghem, F-62310 Radinghem, France
L. Sagot
Affiliation:
Institut de l’Elevage – Ciirpo, F-87800 Saint Priest Ligoure, France
G. Cantalapiedra-Hijar*
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122 Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

It is difficult to separate an age-dependent fall in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE; N balance/N intake) in growing ruminants from a progressively decrease in animal protein requirements over time. This study examined the effect of dietary protein content on N partitioning, digestibility and N isotopic discrimination between the animal and its diet (Δ15Nanimal-diet) evaluated at two different fattening periods (early v. late). Twenty-four male Romane lambs (age: 19 ± 4.0 days; BW: 8.3 ± 1.39 kg) were equally allocated to three dietary CP treatments (15%, 17% and 20% CP on a DM basis). Lambs were reared with their mothers until weaning, thereafter housed in individual pens until slaughter (45 kg BW). During the post-weaning period, lambs were allocated twice (early fattening (30 days post-weaning) and late fattening (60 days post-weaning)) to metabolic cages for digestibility and N balance study. When diet CP content increased, the average daily gain of lambs increased (P < 0.05) while the age at slaughter decreased (P = 0.01), but no effect was observed on feed efficiency (P > 0.10). Diet CP content had limited effect on lamb carcass traits. Higher fibre digestibility was observed at the early v. late fattening period (P < 0.001). The N intake and the urinary N excretion increased when diet CP content increased (P < 0.001) and when shifting from early to late fattening period (P < 0.001). Faecal N excretion (P = 0.14) and N balance (P > 0.10) were not affected by diet CP content. Nitrogen digestibility increased (P < 0.001) as the diet CP content increased and on average it was greater at late v. early fattening period (P = 0.02). The NUE decreased (P = 0.001) as the diet CP content increased and as the lamb became older (P < 0.001). However, the age-dependent fall in NUE observed was lower at high v. low dietary CP content (CP × age interaction; P = 0.04). The Δ15Nanimal-diet was positively correlated (P < 0.05) with N intake (r = 0.59), excretion of faecal N (r = 0.41), urinary N (r = 0.69) and total manure N (r = 0.64), while negatively correlated with NUE (r = −0.57). Overall, the experiment showed NUE was lower in older lambs and when lambs were fed high diet CP content, and that Δ15Nanimal-diet was a useful indicator not only for NUE but also for urinary N excretion, which is a major environmental pollution factor on farm.

Keywords

sheepnitrogen balancedigestibility15Nisotopic discrimination
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 14 , Issue 5 , May 2020 , pp. 942 - 951
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2019

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