• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.427-428
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• 1989

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1116-1124
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• 2005

The influence of fiber content of hay (low-fiber 47% NDF and high-fiber 62% NDF of DM) and concentrate level (high 50% and low 20% of ration DM) on chewing activity, passage rate and nutrient digestibility were tested on four restrict-fed (11.1 to 13.7 kg DM/d) Holstein cows in late lactation. Aspects of ruminal fermentation and digesta particle size distribution were also investigated on two ruminally cannulated (100 mm i.d.) cows of the same group of animals. All digestion parameters studied were more affected by the fiber content of the hay and its ratio to non structural carbohydrates than by the concentrate level. Giving a diet of high-fiber (62% NDF) hay and low concentrate level (20%) increased chewing activity but decreased solid passage rate and total digestibility of nutrients due to a limited availability of fermentable OM in the late cut fiber rich hay. A supplementation of high-fiber hay with 50% concentrate in the diet seems to improve the ruminal digestion of cell contents, whilst a depression of the ruminal fiber digestibility was not completely avoided. Giving a diet of low-fiber (47% NDF) hay and high concentrate level (50%) reduced markedly the chewing and rumination activity, affected negatively the rumen conditions and, consequently, the ruminal digestion of fiber. A reduction of the concentrate level from 50 to 20% in the diet of low-fiber hay improved the rumen conditions as reflected by an increase of the ruminal solid passage rate and of fiber digestibility and in a decrease of the concentration of large particles and of the mean particle size of the rumen digesta and of the faeces. Generally, it can be summarised that, (i) concentrate supplementation is not a strategy to overcome limitations of low quality (fiber-rich) hay, and (ii) increase of the roughage quality is an effective strategy in ruminant nutrition, especially when concentrate availability for ruminants is limited.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.1499-1507
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• 2000

This trial was to compare the digestive function of laboratory animals, which included omnivores (rats) and herbivores (rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters). Ten weanling rats, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamster were randomly allocated in individual metabolic cages for a performance and a digestibility trial. Results showed that guinea pigs were significantly best in digestion of dietary crude protein and fiber. Rabbits, however, had the poorest nutrient digestion among the herbivores. Crude fiber digested significantly less by rats than by the herbivores (p<0.05). The digesta retention in the GI tract was longest in rabbits followed by guinea pigs, rats and hamsters. The relative length of the large intestine was significantly shorter in rats as compared to guinea pigs or hamsters. Both the weight and length ratio of the caecum or colon-rectum to the large intestine reflected the major site for fermentation that was the caecum in rabbits and the colon-rectum in guinea pigs. 10% of crude fiber diet did not result in damaged mucosa in any of the experimental animals in this trial.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.913-917
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• 2000

Sixteen adult Barbari bucks were divided into 4 homogeneous groups, each group was offered wheat straw (WS) at levels 75, 100, 125 and 150 per cent of ad libitum intake in a factorial randomized complete block design. All goats were uniformly fed a supplement ($13.5g\;DM/kg\;W^{0.75}$) to fulfill their requirement for protein at maintenance level. The experimental feeding of goats at different levels for 21 days was followed by a digestion trial of 6 days and determination of rate of passage of digesta for 144 h duration, respectively. Intake ($g/kg\;W^{0.75}$) of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), digestible DM and digestible OM increased with increase in amount of WS offered. The levels of WS refusals for obtaining upper limit of intake was found to be above 30% of DMO. Concentration of ADF and lignin was significantly lower and CP was higher (p>0.05) in food ingested relative to food offered or refused in response to increasing allowance of WS. Dietary means of particulate rate of passage from rumen, transit time and total mean retention time ranged from 0.032 to 0.036/h, 19.10 to 21.72/h and 58.61 to 61.53/h respectively and did not show significant differences (p>0.05) irrespective of dietary level of WS. The results suggest that DMI and quality of ingested WS would improve with higher rates of offer and refusals (${\geq}30%$ of DMO) without any pronounced effect on passage kinetics of digesta, because of the greater opportunity afforded to goats for selective feeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1183-1196
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• 2018

Objective: This study ascertained effects of roughage quality, period of day at meal termination and time lapse after feeding on digesta load in the rumen. Methods: Veld hay was untreated (poor roughage quality, PRQ), improved (improved roughage quality, IRQ) by treating with urea or semi-improved by spraying with urea (semi-improved roughage quality, SIRQ). Experiment 1a used four rumen fistulated sheep to determine in-sacco degradability. Twelve sheep ($56.3{\pm}4.59kg$) were blocked by weight and randomly allocated to IRQ (n = 6) and PRQ (n = 6) to determine solid and liquid passage rates. In experiment 1b, nine sheep ($37.6{\pm}9.34kg$) were blocked by weight and randomly allocated to IRQ (n = 4) and PRQ (n = 5) to determine digestibility. Sixteen sheep ($36.47{\pm}9.46kg$) were blocked by body weight and randomly allocated to IRQ (n = 8) and PRQ (n = 8). Two sheep were slaughtered for each sampling time in each treatment (IRQ and PRQ) at 0, 6, 12, and 24 h after feeding to determine rumen load. In experiment 2, eighteen goats ($25.4{\pm}9.08kg$) were blocked by weight and randomly allocated to IRQ (n = 6), SIRQ (n = 6), and PRQ (n = 6). Then all 18 goats were slaughtered soon after meal termination in the morning; afternoon and evening to determine the effect of period of day on rumen fill. Results: Rate of degradation and effective degradability were enhanced by improvement of roughage quality. Roughage quality had no effect on digestibility, but digestibility was higher in goats than sheep. Fractional passage rate of particles was higher for IRQ than PRQ, but similar for liquids. Digesta fractional clearance rates at 24 h after feeding were 0.018/h (IRQ) and 0.006/h (PRQ). Period of day had an influence on rumen load. Neutral detergent fibre load for goats were above 2.03 kg/100 kg body weight for all diet treatments. Conclusion: Following starvation, passage rate had negligible effects on emptying of rumen load.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 1989

The present experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of heat exposure on water metabolism and the passage of indigestible particles in sheep. Water intake, respiratory rate, rectal temperature and pH of ruminal fluid and urine were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the hot environment ($32\;^{\circ}C$) than in the control environment ($20\;^{\circ}C$). Urine osmolality and blood volume were increased, while glomerular filtration rate was decreased, in the hot environment. The liquid flow rate from reticulo-rumen and the excretion of indigestible particles of specific gravity 0.99 (but not 1.27 or 1.38) were increased in the hot environment. From these findings, it is suggested that an increased water intake evoked by heat exposure might affect the flow rate of digesta in sheep.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 1992

To determine the effect of time after feeding on distribution of particle size of digesta in the gastrointestinal tract, 16 sheep given orchardgrass first cut hay were slaughtered at 2, 8, 16 and 24 hours after feeding and digesta in diverse sites of the tract were sieved into four fractions of particle size larger than $1180{\mu}m$, 300-1180, 45-300 and less than 45. Following results were obtained: 1) In the reticulo-rumen, the proportion of particles larger than $1180{\mu}m$ decreased with the time after feeding, while the other particle size fractions did not change with time after feeding. 2) In the post-ruminal alimentary tract, the proportion of particles larger than $1180{\mu}m$ was significantly smaller than that in the reticulo-rumen and distribution of fractions of every particle size stayed consistently at about the same level irrespective of the time after feeding. 3) In the cecum, the fraction of particle size less than $45{\mu}m$ appeared to be selectively retained when the passage rate was considered.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.617-622
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• 1992

Four rumen-fistulated swamp buffaloes steers were used in a change-over experiment. This experiment was designed to provide a comparison of the effect of urea-ammonia treatment of rice straw with untreated rice straw. Nitrogen, mineral and trace elements were supplied at adequate levels to both diets in order to overcome deficiencies which may have otherwise confounded a direct comparison. There was a 46% increase in the intake of digestible organic matter (OM) with the urea-ammonia treated diet. This was contributed by a 17% increase in the digestibility of OM and a 25% increase in the voluntary intake of OM. Of the cell wall fraction, the digestibility of hemicellulose increased by the greatest amount (26%). There was an increased rate of passage of particulate matter out of the rumen for the treated straw, along with the increased rate of OM fermentation resulted in a 9% decrease in the amount of digesta dry matter (DM) contained in the rumen. The volatile fatty acid (VFA) pool in the rumen was 24% higher for the treated diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.267-273
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• 1995

The differences in rumen particle pool size, passage rate and rumen degradability in sheep receiving three varieties of orchardgrass hay harvested at pre-heading (H1), early-bloom (H2) and late-bloom (H3) were investigated using four ruminal-cannulated wethers (68 kg) fed 1,300 g of the hay once a day. Representative samples of whole rumen contents were collected at different times after feeding and the quantities of rumen particle pools [large particle pool (LPP), retained on a $1,180{\mu}m$ sieve; small particle pool (SPP), retained on a 47 but passed a $1,180{\mu}m$ sieve; and soluble fraction (SOL), passed a $47{\mu}m$ sieve (SOL)] were determined by a wet-sieving technique. The fullowing results were obtained: 1) The dry weight of whole rumen contents were significantly lower (p < 0.05) for HI than for H2 or H3. The reduction rate of whole rumen contents was slightly but significantly greater for HI that, the other hay varieties. 2) The LPP disappearance rates were 26.2, 25.3 and 21.7 g DM/h for H1, H2 and H3, respectively, and no statistical differences were found among the hay varieties. Appreciable changes were not observed with SPP and SOL throughout measurements for all hay varieties; however the SPP was markedly greater (p <0.05) for H2 and ill than for HI, while SOL did not differ among hay varieties. 3) The SPP passage rate (g DM/h) and effective rumen degradability (%) for HI, H2 and ill were, respectively, 9.7, 56.6; 16.9, 42.3; and 18.0, 28.9. The ruminal tum-over rate for SPP appeared to be higher for HI than for the other hay varieties.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 1992

Formula feed for fattening cattle ground through 2 mm screen was incubated in the rumen of sheep and goats to evaluate effects of ratio of concentrate to hay and kinds of hay in a ration on determining the degradability (dg) value of protein using in sacco technique. Following results were obtained: 1) Residual dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of formula feed decreased as the time of incubation increased. Regression analyses showed that rates of degradation of DM and CP in the rumen were not the same when they were determined under feeding of rations with different percentages of concentrate. 2) Rate of passage of digesta from the rumen differed between feeding of Italian ryegrass hay ration and that of alfalfa hay ration, but was not influenced by the percentage of concentrate in a ration. 3) The dg value was different when it was estimated with results obtained from determinations under feeding of Italian ryegrass hay ration or that of alfalfa hay ration. The percentage of concentrate in a ration had no influence on the dg value of protein in formula feed.