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Comparison of methods for the measurement of microbial protein supply in sheep
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2021
Extract
The excretion of purine derivatives (PD) in urine has been used as an index for the estimation of microbial nitrogen (N) supply in ruminants. This method is simple and does not require surgical intervention of the animal. However, there have been few attempts to compare the results of this method with other methods for the measurement of microbial N supply. In the present study, two experiments were performed. The main experiment (Experiment 2) compared the estimated duodenal microbial N flow based on urinary PD excretion, with the more direct measurement based on duodenal RNA flow rates obtained from cannulated sheep using n-alkanes as the digesta flow marker. However, a preliminary experiment (Experiment 1) was needed to validate the use of alkane as a digesta marker in comparison with the commonly accepted dual phase marker method of Faichney (1975).
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- Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1997
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