Table 6.

Nitrogen dynamics from information obtained from a 48-h period within metabolism crates of Coopworth lambs fed either a monotonous diet (perennial ryegrass only, SF) or a taxonomically diverse MF diet of equal proportions of fresh cut herbage of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), and plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.)

	Treatments
Item	SF	MF	SEM	P-value1
Nitrogen intake, g/d	36.05	54.56	1.68	<0.01
Apparent nitrogen digestibility, %	86.26	88.63	1.70	0.09
Urinary nitrogen concentration, g/L	6.27	4.39	0.41	<0.01
Nitrogen excretion, g/d
Feces	5.09	6.06	0.92	0.13
Urine	15.66	17.83	2.50	0.26
Total	20.75	21.06	2.82	0.86
Apparent nitrogen retention, g/d	15.29	30.67	2.92	<0.01

¹t-test P-value.