Factors influencing the digestion of dietary carbohydrates between the mouth and abomasum of steers

Abstract

1. Six protozoa-free steers with simple rumen and abomasal cannulas were given basal diets consisting of a concentrate mixture of flaked maize and tapioca with either barley straw (BS) or alkali-treated barley straw (BSA). Other diets used were supplemented with urea (BSU and BSAU respectively) or contained fish meal in place of tapioca BSF and BSAF (respectively). The diets were given in a 6 × 6 Latin square design. Diets were isoenergetic and provided sufficient metabolizable energy (ME) to support a growth rate of approximately 0·5 kg/d. Basal diets, urea- and fish-meal-supplemented diets had estimated rumen-degradable nitrogen (RDN): ME values (g/MJ) of 0·5, 1·2 and 0·8 respectively. ¹⁰³Ruthenium and polyethylene glycol were given as flow markers, and flows (g/24 h) at the abomasum of organic matter (OM) and carbohydrate components were calculated.2. True digestibility coefficients of OM between mouth and abomasum were significantly greater for diets containing alkali-treated straw (approximately 0·63) than for those containing untreated straw (approximately 0·55) but were not significantly affected by N supplementation.3. Digestibility coefficients of the neutral-sugar components of dietary polysaccharides between mouth and abomasum were 0·28, 0·34, 0·31, 0·23, 0·31 and 0·87 for mannose, galactose arabinose, xylose, cellulose-glucose and starch-glucose respectively for diet BS. Corresponding values were 0·37, 0·42, 0·56, 0·51, 0·40 and 0·88 for diet BSA. All but the mannose and starch-glucose values were significantly greater for the latter diet. N supplementation also led to increases in digestibility of all neutral sugars except mannose and starch-glucose. Fish meal produced a markedly greater effect than urea but only significantly so for cellulose-glucose. Thus, the highest digestibilities were seen for diet BSAF and were 0·68, 0·67, 0·74 and 0·64 for galactose, arabinose, xylose and cellulose-glucose respectively. Of all these sugars xylose consistently showed the greatest response in digestibility to sodium hydroxide treatment or N supplementation.