• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.485-493
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• 2015

This study evaluated the in situ ruminal degradability, and subsequent small intestinal digestibility (SID) of dry matter, crude protein (CP), and amino acids (AA) of cottonseed meal (CSM), sunflower seed meal (SFSM) and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) by using the modified three-step in vitro procedure. The ruminal degradability and subsequent SID of AA in rumen-undegradable protein (RUP-AA) varied among three protein supplements. The result show that the effective degradability of DM for SFSM, CSM, and DDGS was 60.8%, 56.4%, and 41.0% and their ruminal fermentable organic matter was 60.0%, 55.9%, and 39.9%, respectively. The ruminal degradable protein (RDP) content in CP for SFSM, CSM, and DDGS was 68.3%, 39.0%, and 32.9%, respectively, at the ruminal solid passage rate of 1.84%/h. The SFSM is a good source of RDP for rumen micro-organisms; however, the SID of RUP of SFSM was lower. The DDGS and CSM are good sources of RUP for lambs to digest in the small intestine to complement ruminal microbial AA of growing lambs. Individual RUP-AA from each protein source was selectively removed by the rumen microorganisms, especially for Trp, Arg, His, and Lys (p<0.01). The SID of individual RUP-AA was different within specific RUP origin (p<0.01). Limiting amino acid was Leu for RUP of CSM and Lys for both RUP of SFSM and DDGS, respectively. Therefore, different protein supplements with specific limitations should be selected and combined carefully in growing lambs ration to optimize AA balance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.392-403
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• 2008

Four ruminally fistulated Hanwoo steers were used to determine the effects of level and degradability of dietary protein on ruminal fermentation, blood metabolites and concentration of soluble non-ammonia nitrogen (SNAN) in ruminal (RD) and omasal digesta (OD). Experiments were conducted in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design with a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement of treatments. Factors were protein supplements with two ruminal crude protein (CP) degradabilities, corn gluten meal (CGM) that was low in degradability (rumen-degraded protein (RDP), 23.4% CP) or soybean meal (SBM) that was high in degradability (RDP, 62.1% CP), and two feeding levels of CP (12.2 or 15.9% dry matter). Ruminal fermentation rates and plasma metabolite concentrations were determined from the RD collected at 2-h intervals and from the blood taken by jugular puncture, respectively. The SNAN fractions (free amino acid, peptide and soluble protein) in RD and OD collected at 2-h intervals were assessed by ninhydrin assay. Mean ruminal ammonia concentrations were 40.5, 74.8, 103.4 and 127.0 mg/L for low CGM, high CGM, low SBM and high SBM, respectively, with statistically significant differences (p<0.01 for CP level and p<0.001 for CP degradability). Blood urea nitrogen concentrations were increased by high CP level (p<0.001) but unaffected by CP degradability. There was a significant (p<0.05) interaction between level and degradability of CP on blood albumin concentrations. Albumin was decreased to a greater extent by increasing degradability of low CP diets (0.26 g/dl) compared with high CP diets (0.02 g/dl). Concentrations of each SNAN fraction in RD (p<0.01) and OD (p<0.05) for high CP diets were higher than those for low CP diets, except for peptides but concentrations of the sum of peptide and free amino acid in RD and OD were significantly higher (p<0.05) for high CP diets than for low CP diets. Soybean meal diets increased free amino acid and peptide concentrations in both RD (p<0.01) and OD (p<0.05) compared to CGM diets. High level and greater degradability of CP increased (p<0.001) mean concentrations of total SNAN in RD and OD. These results suggest that RDP contents, increased by higher level and degradability of dietary protein, may increase release of free amino acids, peptides and soluble proteins in the rumen and omasum from ruminal degradation and solubilization of dietary proteins. Because SNAN in OD indicates the terminal product of ruminal metabolism, increasing CP level and degradability appears to increase the amount of intestine-available nitrogen in the liquid phase.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1559-1567
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to evaluate ruminal degradability and intestinal digestibility of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) in hempseed cake (HC) that were moist heat treated at different temperatures. Samples of cold-pressed HC were autoclaved for 30 min at 110, 120 or $130^{\circ}C$, and a sample of untreated HC was used as the control. Ruminal degradability of CP was estimated, using the in situ Dacron bag technique; intestinal CP digestibility was estimated for the 16 h in situ residue using a three-step in vitro procedure. AA content was determined for the HC samples (heat treated and untreated) of the intact feed, the 16 h in situ residue and the residue after the three-step procedure. There was a linear increase in RUP (p = 0.001) and intestinal digestibility of RUP (p = 0.003) with increasing temperature during heat treatment. The $130^{\circ}C$ treatment increased RUP from 259 to 629 g/kg CP, while intestinal digestibility increased from 176 to 730 g/kg RUP, compared to the control. Hence, the intestinal available dietary CP increased more than eight times. Increasing temperatures during heat treatment resulted in linear decreases in ruminal degradability of total AA (p = 0.006) and individual AA (p<0.05) and an increase in intestinal digestibility that could be explained both by a linear and a quadratic model for total AA and most individual AA (p<0.05). The $130^{\circ}C$ treatment decreased ruminal degradability of total AA from 837 to 471 g/kg, while intestinal digestibility increased from 267 to 813 g/kg of rumen undegradable AA, compared with the control. There were differences between ruminal AA degradability and between intestinal AA digestibility within all individual HC treatments (p<0.001). It is concluded that moist heat treatment at $130^{\circ}C$ did not overprotect the CP of HC and could be used to shift the site of CP and AA digestion from the rumen to the small intestine. This may increase the value of HC as a protein supplement for ruminants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1267-1272
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• 2005

The effect of various moisture contents of fresh forage on the change in nitrogen (N) fractions, in vitro ruminal N degradability, and the subsequent N utilization of silage in sheep were evaluated. Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) with high (HM, 76%), medium (MM, 65%) and low (LM, 40%) moisture contents were ensiled into silos of 120 L capacity for 120 days. A nitrogen balance trial was conducted using a 4${\times}$4 Latin square design consisting of four dietary treatments (i.e. fresh forage, HM, MM and LM silages) and four wethers. With respect to N fractions, fraction 1 (buffer solution soluble N), fraction 2 (buffer solution insoluble N-neutral detergent insoluble N), fraction 3 (neutral detergent insoluble N-acid detergent insoluble N), and fraction 4 (acid detergent insoluble N) were determined. The proportion of fraction 1 in silages tended to decrease, while the in vitro ruminal degradability of insoluble N increased (p<0.05) with lower moisture contents at ensiling. Consequently, nitrogen utilization in sheep tended to improve as the moisture content of ensiled grass was decreased, with a negative correlation (p<0.01) between urinary N and the in vitro ruminal degradability of insoluble N. The averaged N retentions for HM, MM, and LM silage treatments were 59, 73 and 79% of that for fresh forage, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1524-1528
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• 2004

In order to determine the extent of change in nitrogen fractions and in vitro ruminal degradability of forage protein during ensilage and the influence on nitrogen utilization by sheep, orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) were ensiled in separate 120 L silos for 5, 21 and 56 days. With respect to nitrogen fractions, fraction 1 (buffer solution soluble nitrogen), fraction 2 (buffer solution insoluble nitrogen-neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen), fraction 3 (neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen-acid detergent insoluble nitrogen), and fraction 4 (acid detergent insoluble nitrogen) were determined. Fractions 1 and 2 accounted for more than 80% of total nitrogen in orchardgrass and 90% of that in alfalfa. The proportion of fraction 1 in orchardgrass increased from 33.0% at day 0 to 52.0% after day 56 of ensiling. In the case of alfalfa silage it was 41.7% and 62.9%, respectively. Seventy percent of this increase occurred within the first 5 days of ensiling. A similar change of in vitro ruminal degradability of total nitrogen was also observed in both forages. Nitrogen retention in sheep tended to decrease as the length of ensiling increased, with a significantly positive correlation between urinary nitrogen and fraction 1, and in vitro ruminal degradability of total nitrogen.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.364-370
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• 2008

Chemical analysis and in vitro studies were conducted to investigate the nutritive value for ruminants of cell mass from lysine production (CMLP) which is a by-product of the lysine manufacturing process. Proximate analysis, protein fractionation, and in vitro protein degradation using protease from Streptomyces griseus and strained ruminal fluid were carried out to estimate ruminal protein degradability of CMLP with two reference feedstuffs-soybean meal (SBM) and fish meal (FM). Amino acid composition and pepsin-HCl degradability were also determined to evaluate postruminal availability. CMLP contained 67.8% crude protein with a major portion being soluble form (45.4% CP) which was composed of mainly ammonium nitrogen (81.8% soluble CP). The amount of nucleic acids was low (1.15% DM). The total amount of amino acids contained in CMLP was 40.60% DM, which was lower than SBM (47.69% DM) or FM (54.08% DM). CMLP was composed of mainly fraction A and fraction B2, while the protein fraction in SBM was mostly B2 and FM contained high proportions of B2 and B3 fractions. The proportion of B3 fraction, slowly degradable protein, in CP was the highest in fish meal (23.34%), followed by CMLP (7.68%) and SBM (1.46%). CMLP was degraded up to 51.40% at 18 h of incubation with Streptomyces protease, which was low compared to FM (55.23%) and SBM (83.01%). This may be due to the insoluble portion of CMLP protein being hardly degradable by the protease. The in vitro fermentation by strained ruminal fluid showed that the amount of soluble fraction was larger in CMLP (40.6%) than in SBM (17.8%). However, because the degradation rate constant of the potentially degradable fraction of CMLP (2.0%/h) was lower than that of SBM (5.8%/h), the effective ruminal protein degradability of CMLP (46.95%) was slightly lower than SBM (53.77%). Unavailable fraction in the rumen was higher in CMLP (34.0%) compared to SBM (8.8%). In vitro CP degradability of CMLP by pepsin was 80.37%, which was lower than SBM (94.42%) and FM (89.04%). The evaluation of protein degradability using different approaches indicated that soluble protein in CMLP may supply a large amount of ammonia in the rumen while insoluble protein can be by-passed from microbial attacks due to its low degradability. The results from this study suggest that CMLP can be used as a protein supplement to ruminants for supplying both non-protein nitrogen to rumen microbes and rumen undegradable protein to the host animal.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1560-1568
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• 2011

This study was conducted to evaluate the yield, nutrient characteristics, ruminal solubility, degradability and disappearance of spent mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) substrates for ruminants. The annual yield of spent Agaricus bisporus substrates was measured to be about 210,000 tons (M/T) in South Korea. The surface soil-removed spent substrates had nutritional characteristics of high crude ash (375 g/kg) and Ca (32 g/kg), medium protein (134 g/kg CP), and high fiber (384 g/kg NDF on a DM basis). Compared with initial mushroom substrates, spent mushroom substrates had twice higher (p<0.0001) CP content and 22.0% lower (p<0.0001) NDF content on an organic matter basis. Compared with raw rice straw, spent rice straw had much higher (p<0.05) predicted ruminal degradabilities and disappearances of DM and CP and a little lower (p<0.05) predicted degradability and disappearance of NDF. In conclusion, the general feed-nutritional value of spent mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) substrates appeared to improve after cultivation of mushrooms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.523-528
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• 2013

This study investigates the effects of three branched-chain amino acids (BCAA; valine, leucine, and isoleucine) on the in vitro ruminal fermentation of wheat straw using batch cultures of mixed ruminal microorganisms. BCAA were added to the buffered ruminal fluid at a concentration of 0, 2, 4, 7, or 10 mmol/L. After 72 h of anaerobic incubation, pH, volatile fatty acids (VFA), and ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) in the ruminal fluid were determined. Dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradability were calculated after determining the DM and NDF in the original material and in the residue after incubation. The addition of valine, leucine, or isoleucine increased the total VFA yields ($p{\leq}0.001$). However, the total VFA yields did not increase with the increase of BCAA supplement level. Total branched-chain VFA yields linearly increased as the supplemental amount of BCAA increased (p<0.001). The molar proportions of acetate and propionate decreased, whereas that of butyrate increased with the addition of valine and isoleucine (p<0.05). Moreover, the proportions of propionate and butyrate decreased (p<0.01) with the addition of leucine. Meanwhile, the molar proportions of isobutyrate were increased and linearly decreased (p<0.001) by valine and leucine, respectively. The addition of leucine or isoleucine resulted in a linear (p<0.001) increase in the molar proportions of isovalerate. The degradability of NDF achieved the maximum when valine or isoleucine was added at 2 mmol/L. The results suggest that low concentrations of BCAA (2 mmol/L) allow more efficient regulation of ruminal fermentation in vitro, as indicated by higher VFA yield and NDF degradability. Therefore, the optimum initial dose of BCAA for in vitro ruminal fermentation is 2 mmol/L.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1619-1624
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• 2003

The effect of maize hybrid (Suco and Dekalb 765, DK 765), maturity stage (milk, $R_3$ and 1/2 milk line, $R_5$) and animal diet (Diet 1: 70% lucerne hay+30% maize silage; Diet 2: 50% maize silage+20% sunflower meal+30% maize grain) on ruminal stover dry matter (DM) degradability was studied. Additionally, morphological and chemical plant composition was evaluated. Fodder samples ground at 2 mm were incubated in three Holstein steers (400 kg body weight) using the in situ technique. Ruminal degradation kinetics was studied and the effective degradability (ED) was estimated for an assumed kp of 5%/h. The in situ data was analyzed in a complete randomized block design with the animals as blocks. Significant interactions between hybrid${\times}$diet and maturity${\times}$diet on kinetic digestion parameters were detected. In Diet 1, hybrids did not differ in degradable fraction, kd or ED, although a minor difference (p<0.05) in the soluble fraction was found (25.5 and 23.2% for Suco and DK 765, respectively). In Diet 2, the DK 765 had greater degradable fraction (p<0.001) but smaller (p<0.01) kd than Suco, without differences in the soluble fraction or in ED. Anticipating the harvest increased ED of stover from 37.5% in $R_5$ to 44.6% in $R_3$ (average values across hybrids and diets) due to the increase (p<0.001) in the soluble fraction ($R_5$: 22.6%, $R_3$: 28.8%). It is concluded that hybrids had similar stover in situ DM degradability and that soluble fraction represent the main proportion of degradable substrates. Advancing the date of harvesting may not improve the in situ DM degradability of whole maize plant silage since the increase in stover quality is counteracted by the depression in the grain-to-stover ratio. The diet of the animal consuming silage might not improve stover utilization either.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2001

Ruminal degradation characteristics of dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude protein (CP) in fresh leaves of two Japanese native grasses (Zoysia japonica and Miscanthus sinensis) and one sown temperate grass (Dactylis glomerata) were investigated by an in sacco method in spring (mid-May), summer (mid-July) and autumn (mid-September). Japanese native grasses had higher NDF and lower CP concentrations than D. glomerata, and the CP concentration in native grasses decreased in autumn. Ruminal degradability of DM, NDF and CP was lower in native grasses than in D. glomerata (p<0.05) in all seasons. DM and NDF degradability decreased in summer for Z. japonica and D. glomerata, while it decreased in autumn for M. sinensis. CP degradability in Z. japonica was constant throughout the seasons, whereas that in M. sinensis greatly decreased in summer and autumn (p<0.05). It was concluded that Z. japonica could stably supply ruminally digestible nutrients for grazing animals in Japanese native pasture. However, the degradation characteristics of freshly chopped native grasses did not fit the exponential model of $D=a+b(1-e^{-ct})$ proposed by Ørskov and McDonald.