Table 4.
Urinary nitrogen, purine derivatives (PD), and estimated microbial protein (MCP) supply to the dairy cows fed 3 experimental diets
| Itemsd | Treatmentc | SEM | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AH | L-NFC | H-NFC | |||
| Urine volume, L/d | 34.3a | 32.7a | 28.6b | 1.52 | 0.02 |
| Urinary PD, mmol/d | |||||
| Allantoin | 358 | 377 | 325 | 22.0 | 0.26 |
| Uric acid | 60.8 | 59.2 | 52.7 | 4.97 | 0.22 |
| Endogenous PD | 52.6 | 52.7 | 52.5 | 1.28 | 0.68 |
| MCP, g/d | 1690 | 1766 | 1516 | 117 | 0.31 |
| Urea nitrogen, mg/dL | 670 | 730 | 664 | 30.1 | 0.09 |
a-b Least squares means within a row with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05)
cAH = Total mixed rations containing alfalfa hay; L-NFC = Total mixed rations containing corn stover with a low content of non-fiber carbohydrates; H-NFC = Total mixed rations containing corn stover formulated to have similar non-fiber carbohydrate concentrations as the AH diet
dUrine volume (L/d) = BW (kg) × 29 (mg/d)/creatinine (mg/L) [18]; Microbial protein (MCP) was indirectly estimated by the following eq. [15]: MCP = (allantoin + uric acid − endogenous PD) × 70 × 6.25/(0.116 × 0.83 × 1000)