[en] The microbial protein supply to ruminants can be estimated based on the amount of purine derivatives (PD) excreted in the urine. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the purine derivatives method for Ongole cattle. In the first experiment, 4 four-year old male Ongole cattle (Bos indicus) were used to calibrate the PD technique using the most common locally available feed at four levels of intake (95, 80, 60 and 40% of voluntary intake). The diet consisted of king grass and rice bran (70:30 on DM basis). The cattle at the level of 95% intake were injected with [¹⁴C]-uric acid in a single dose to define the renal:non-renal partitioning ratio of plasma PD excreted in the urine. The results showed that PD excretion responded positively to the level of feed intake. The relative proportion of urinary allantoin and uric acid to PD excretion was 0.87 and 0.13 respectively. The proportion of urea N to total N ranged from 83 to 93%. The glomerular filtration rate and tubular load of PD increased due to the increasing level of feed intake. Nitrogen balance became negative when the level of feed intake decreased to 60%. The proportion of plasma PD excreted in the urine was 0.67. (author)

[en] The microbial protein supply to ruminants can be estimated based on the amount of purine derivatives (PD) excreted in the urine. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the PD excretion method for Bali and Ongole cattle. In the first experiment, six male, two year old Bali cattle (Bos sondaicus) and six Ongole cattle (Bos indicus) of similar sex and age, were used to quantify the endogenous contribution to total PD excretion in the urine. In the second experiment, four cattle from each breed were used to examine the response of PD excretion to feed intake. ¹⁴C-uric acid was injected in one single dose to define the partitioning ratio of renal:non-renal losses of plasma PD. The third experiment was conducted to examine the ratio of purine N:total N in mixed rumen microbial population. The fourth experiment measured the enzyme activities of blood, liver and intestinal tissues concerned with PD metabolism. The results of the first experiment showed that endogenous PD excretion was 145 ± 42.0 and 132 ± 20.0 μmol/kg W^0.75/d, for Bali and Ongole cattle, respectively. The second experiment indicated that the proportion of plasma PD excreted in the urine of Bali and Ongole cattle was 0.78 and 0.77 respectively. Hence, the prediction of purine absorbed based on PD excretion can be stated as Y = 0.78 X + 0.145 W^0.75 and Y = 0.77 X + 0.132 W^0.75 for Bali and Ongole cattle, respectively. The third experiment showed that there were no differences in the ratio of purine N:total N in mixed rumen microbes of Bali and Ongole cattle (17% vs 18%). The last experiment, showed that intestinal xanthine oxidase activity of Bali cattle was lower than that of Ongole cattle (0.001 vs 0.015 μmol uric acid produced/min/g tissue) but xanthine oxidase activity in the blood and liver of Bali cattle was higher than that of Ongole cattle (3.48 vs 1.34 μmol/min/L plasma and 0.191 vs 0.131 μmol/min/g liver tissue). Thus, there was no difference in PD excretion between these two breeds. Liver uricase in Bali and Ongole cattle was 1.46 and 1.17 μmol/min/g tissue, where as no activity was detected in the intestinal tissue and blood. (author)

[en] An experiment was conducted to determine the flow of nucleic acids from the rumen to duodenum. Two duodenal-cannulated each of male Ongole cattle and buffaloes aged three to four years were used and fed a mixture of king grass and rice bran (70:30 DM basis). At 95% and 60% of the voluntary intake in three weeks each before morning feeding period. Cr-mordanted alfalfa was used as a marker. The excretion of allantoin, uric acid, purine derivatives, and creatinine and the PDC index were higher in cattle than buffaloes at both levels of intake (P < 0.05). There were no difference between cattle and buffaloes with regard to the flow of RNA when expressed on digestible organic matter intake (DOMI), flow rate of RNA/kg DOMI, or flow rate of crude protein/kg DOMI. It can be concluded that the differences in urine excretion of purine derivatives between cattle and buffalo is not due to the differences in the amount of rumen microbial protein synthesis, but due to differences in purine metabolism between cattle and buffaloes. (author)

[en] The urinary recovery of [¹⁴C]-allantoin injected into the blood of Bali Cattle (Bos banteng) and Zebu cattle (Bos indicus), and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of these animals, were determined. The cattle were fed with king grass at 95% of ad libitum intake. The recovery of [¹⁴C]-allantoin in the urine was significantly higher for Bali (83 ± SE 0.94 %) than for Zebu Cattle (74 ± SE 0.79 %). There were no significant differences in GFR between Bali and Zebu cattle (302 ± SE23.8 and 285 ± SE18.7 L/d). Within each species, there was no significant effect of GFR on the [¹⁴C]-allantoin recovery. It remains to be investigated whether the differences in [¹⁴C]-allantoin recovery between species is affected by GFR. (author)