Studies on the nitrogen compounds of the faeces of dairy cows fed urea as the sole or partial source of nitrogen

Abstract

The nitrogen compounds of the faeces of dairy cows on purified, protein-free feed with urea and small amounts of ammonium salts as the sole source of nitrogen (0-feed). on low-protein feed in which part of the protein was replaced with urea (ULP-feed) and on normal protein-containing feed (NorP-feed) were studied. The total nitrogen contents of the dry matter of the faeces were 2.5 ± 0.7 % on 0-feed, 2.4 ± 0.4 % on ULP-feed and 2.3 ± 0.6 % on NorP-feed. The proportion of urea- and ammonium nitrogen of the total nitrogen was 3.2 ± 2.4, 4.5 ± 2.4 and 3.7 ± 1.8 % respectively, and the proportion of nitrogen soluble in 70 % ethanol 10.9 ± 5.7, 9.9 ± 2.4 and 10.4 ± 3.8 % of the total nitrogen; the proportion of nitrogen in the free amino acid fraction was 4.1 ±2.9 on 0-feed, 1.6 ± 1.4 (P < 0.05) on ULP-feed and 3.2 ± 2.9 % on NorP-feed. The nitrogen insoluble in 70 % ethanol as a proportion of the total nitrogen was 82.3 ± 7.2 on 0-feed, 85.4 ± 5.0 on ULP-feed and 82.3 ± 7.2 % on NorP-feed. Of the total nitrogen of this insoluble fraction, the following proportions were released as amino acids by acid hydrolysis: 62.15 ± 8.5 % on 0-feed, 61.6 ± 10.7 % on ULP-feed and 59.0 ± 13.9% on NorP-feed. (α, Ɛ-diaminopimelic acid was 1.7 ± 0.6, 0.7 ± 0.2 (P < 0.05) and 1.2 ± 0,4 mol % respectively of the total amino acids of the hydrolyzate. The soluble nitrogen fraction was separated into free amino acid and »peptide» fractions, and the amino acid composition of both was determined, the latter after acid hydrolysis