Table 5.

Ruminal fermentation of bulls fed on experimental diets with different levels of crude protein

Parameters	Dietary treatments			SEM	p-value
	LCP	MCP	HCP		Linear	Quadratic
Ruminal pH	6.72b	6.77a	6.81a	0.019	0.013	0.985
NH3-N (mg/dL)	5.00b	6.43a	7.29a	0.316	0.002	0.590
Bacterial protein (mg/dL)	0.23b	0.25ab	0.28a	0.012	0.022	0.752
Volatile fatty acids (mmol/L)
Acetate	49.71b	52.42b	55.58a	3.136	0.007	0.485
Propionate	10.13b	11.50ab	12.80a	0.795	0.049	0.916
Iso-butyrate	0.59	0.61	0.79	0.100	0.419	0.746
Butyrate	6.41	7.19	7.83	0.516	0.142	0.459
Iso-valerate	0.75	0.71	0.73	0.044	0.237	0.659
Valerate	0.83	0.87	0.93	0.066	0.445	0.440
Total VFA (mmol/L)	68.42c	73.29b	78.65a	3.854	0.006	0.514
Acetate:propionate	4.91	4.56	4.37	0.410	0.871	0.380

¹⁾LCP, low crude protein; MCP, medium crude protein; HCP, high crude protein; SEM, standard error of mean; NH₃-N, ammonia nitrogen; VFA, volatile fatty acid.

^a–cWithin the same row with different superscripts means significant difference (p<0.05).