The results reported in this paper are attempts to evaluate several dietary factors in the development of a purified ration for lambs that will give growth rates similar to those obtained on natural rations

Burroughs, Wise

Hale, W.H.

English

University of Northern Iowa

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of ScienceVolume 63 | Annual Issue Article 421956Purified Ration Studies with LambsW.H. HaleIowa State CollegeWise BurroughsIowa State CollegeCopyright © Copyright 1956 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/piasThis Research is brought to you for free and open access by UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Proceedings of the Iowa Academyof Science by an authorized editor of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu.Recommended CitationHale, W.H. and Burroughs, Wise (1956) "Purified Ration Studies with Lambs," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science: Vol. 63: No.1 , Article 42.Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol63/iss1/42Purified Ration Studies with Lambs By w. H. HALE AND WISE BURROUGHS* Determination of nutrient requirements for ruminants has been difficult due to their poly-stomached anatomy. After ingestion, feed-stuffs are subjected to considerable alteration in the rumen by bacterial fermentation. Such processes by bacteria in the rumen as protein synthesis, vitamin synthesis, cellulose fermentation, fat al-teration or synthesis make it difficult to assess the original ration fed in terms of nutrient requirement of the animal. Considering the complex activities of the microorganisms that inhabit the rumen it becomes apparent that the nutrient requirement of the ruminant involves the nutrient needs of the rumen microorganisms as well as those of the animal. Madsen et al. (2) were the first group of workers to develop a purified ration for sheep that promoted near-normal growth. Re-cently purified rations have been used in studying the utilization of inorganic sulfur by sheep (7) (8) (9). Purified diets for mature ruminants present a special problem in that they normally consume rations high in cellulose. It has been demonstrated that rations low in fiber will cause digestive disturbances in ruminants ( 4). It is probable that some type of fiber is necessary in the ration of rumin-ants for normal rumen function. Ruminating lambs arc able to make satisfactory growth on rations in which over 90% of the nitrogen of the ration is supplied by urea. This raises the question as to the type of dietary nitrogen to supply the ruminant animal. The results reported in this paper are attempts to evaluate sev-eral dietary factors in the development of a purified ration for lambs that will give growth rates similar to those obtained on natural ra-tions. EXPERIMENTAL Two experiments were conducted each cons1stmg of 7 treat-ments with four ruminating lambs. In experiment I the lambs weighed approximately 57 pounds and in experiment II, 62 pounds. The formulation of the purified rations was similar to that used by Thomas et al: (9) and Starks et al. (7). The rations for the 7 treatments in experiment I are given in table 1. The overall purpose of experiment I was to detem1ine the value of a natural roughage (wheat straw) in purified rations for lambs, the value of three different sources of nitrogen and the value of a yeast sup-plement. . *Journal paper No. J-2941 of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Sta-t10n, Ames, Iowa, Project No. 1208. 428 1Hale and Burroughs: Purified Ration Studies with LambsPublished by UNI ScholarWorks, 19561956] STUDIES WITH LAMBS 429 The rations fed in experiment II are given in table 2. The ob-jectives of this trial were to further study the value of a natural roughage, the value of a ruptured yeast, water extracted straw and a low cobalt mineral mixture. All lambs were maintained in individual pens throughout the duration of the experiments. Feed, water and salt were kept be-fore the animals at all times. The lambs were bedded with shavings All rations were mixed by hand. The wheat straw was locally grown and ground in a hammer mill through a quarter inch screen. This size particle prevented the lambs from separating out the wheat straw from the remainder of the ration. For water extraction the ground straw was placed in a sack in a barrel and water con-tinuously run through the barrel for 10 days. The straw was then dried and mixed with the ration in the usual method. Considerable color was leached from the straw during the extraction period. No analysis was made on the extracted straw. The wood cellulose used is known commercially as "Solka Floe BW 40". 1 The wood meal was prepared from soft wood shavings by grinding in a hammer mill through an eight inch screen. Commercial dry torula yeast was used. The special yeast was torula in which the cell wall had been ruptured before drying. Commercial crude casein was used. The drackf'tt protein was a purified soybean protein. The mineral mix-ture used is the same as that reported by Ruf et al. ( 5) . The special mineral mixture had the cobalt salts deleted from the formula. All rations were formulated to contain about 12% crude protein. The animals in experiment I were fed for 81 days and those in experiment II, 70 days. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The results of experiment I are presented in table 3. Approxi-mately twenty-five percent of the lambs started on this experiment refused to eat the ration and were removed early in the experiment. Only data for the lambs finishing the experiment arc included in table 1. The response of the lambs finishing the test in experiment I cannot be considered completely satisfactory however the con-sistancy of response between treatments suggest that the data is useful in planning future studies. Addition of yeast to the straw ration increased total gain by 12 pounds. Feed consumption was increased by approximately fifty percent. This beneficial effect of yeast in purified rations has been reported previously ( 5). Replacement of the wheat straw by ad-ditional wod cellulose (treatment 3) failed to maintain the weight of the lambs. Addition of yeast to this ration (treatment 4) in-creased total gain by 10.5 pounds. The replacement of the urea of the ration by the preformed proteins, casein and drackett (treat-'Brown Company, Berlin, New Hampshire. 2Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 63 [1956], No. 1, Art. 42https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol63/iss1/42Table 1 Purified Rations for Lambs. Experiment I. Treatment Number and Designation 2 3 4 5 6 7 Straw Wood Casein + Wood celullose + Drackett Straw Yeast cellulose +Yeast Casein Yeast Protein Wheat straw' 10.0 10.0 -- - --Wood cellulose 20.0 20.0 30.0 30.0 30.0 30.0 30.0 Corn Starch 35.0 31.0 35.0 31.0 25.0 23.0 25.0 Cerelose 24.3 24.1 24.2 24.1 24.2 24.2 24.2 Lard 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 Urea 3.9 3.1 4.0 :u - --Yeast - 5.0 - 5.0 - 5.0 -Casein -- - -14.0 11.0 -Drackett Protein -- - -- -14.0 Minerals' 3.5 3.5 3.5 :l.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 Methionine 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 Choline Chloridr 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 -- ------- --- --- ---100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 'The following vitamins were added per pound of all rations in both experiment I and II; vitamin A, 1000 IU; alpha-tocopherol acetate, 6 mg; vitamin D, 200 IU. 'See Literature cited number 5. .... "" 0 0 ~ > >-CJ > tj !:Tl s::: ><: 0 "".! Ul CJ -!:Tl z CJ !:Tl <: ?-0> "° 3Hale and Burroughs: Purified Ration Studies with LambsPublished by UNI ScholarWorks, 1956Wht'at straw Wood meal Wood cellulose Corn starch Cerelose Lard Urea Yeast Ruptured yeast Minerals Special minerals' Methionine Choline Chloride Straw 100 20.0 35.0 24.0 3.0 3.9 3.5 0.5 0.1 100.0 'Cobalt deleted from mineral mixture. Table 2 Purified Rations for Lambs. Experiment II. Treatment Number and Designation 2 3 4 Straw+ Wood Wood meal+ Extrackd meal Yeast straw 10.0 10.0 10.0 15.0 15.0 -20.0 20.0 20.0 25.0 20.8 35.0 19.0 19.0 24.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 '.).9 3.1 3.9 5.0 --- -'.l.5 3.5 3.5 - -0.5 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.1 0.1 ---- ---100.0 100.0 100.0 .... c.o '-" ..:'.:; 5 6 7 Wood Wood cellulose+ Straw+ U'l cellulose Ruptured Special >-3 +Yeast yeast mineral& e t) -- -- 20.0 tTl U'l -· - -30.0 30.0 20.0 ~ 31.0 31.0 35.0 ->-3 23.8 23.8 24.0 ::r: 3.0 3.0 3.0 t"" 3.1 3.1 3.9 > 5.0 - - s::: - 5.0 -- t:i:I '.).5 3.5 U'l -- - 3.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.1 0.1 0.1 --- --- --100.0 100.0 100.0 ~ -4Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 63 [1956], No. 1, Art. 42https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol63/iss1/42432 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE [Vol. 63 ments 5 & 7) failed to produce growth greater than the urea alone. This would suggest that the type of nitrogren ingested in the ruminants does not have the importance it does in the monogastric animal. In fact, under the conditions of this experiment it appeared to have little significance. Addition of yeast to the casein ration (treatment 6) resulted in an 11 pound increase in gain. It is interesting to note that in every instance the yeast addition re-sulted in an increased gain of 10.5 to 12 pounds. This test suggests yeast fed in connection with a purified ration contains some factor in addition to its total nitrogen content which is essential for the Table 3 Weight Gains and Feed Consumption of Lambs Fed Purifcd Rations. Experiment I. 84 days. No. Total Daily Feed Treatment Lambs Grain, lbs Intake, lbs. 1. Straw 3 5.7 1.47 2. Straw + Yeast 3 17 .7 2.18 3. Wood cellulose 2 -4.5 1.10 4. Wood cellulose + Yeast 3 6.0 1.63 5. Casein 3 -5.0 1.03 6. Casein + Yeast 3 6.0 1.44 7. Drackett protein 3 -5.0 1.05 Table 4 Weight Gains and Feed Consumption of Lambs Fed Purified Rations. Experiment II. 70 days. No. Total Daily Feed Treatment Lambs Grain, lbs Intake, lbs. 1. Straw 3 12.3 2.22 2. Straw + Wood meal 4 14.8 2.63 3. Straw + Wood meal + Yeast 4 11.2 2.62 4. Extracted straw 4 13.2 2.20 5. Wood cellulose -/- Yeast 4 2.2 1.62 6. Wood cellulose + Ruptured yeast 4 6.5 2.04 7. Straw + Special minerals 4 3.8 1.55 rumen microorganisms or the animal. This test further indicates that some fibrous material such as wheat straw is necessary in a purified ration for lambs in order to obtain satisfactory gain. The failure of a preformed protein such as casein or soybean protein to promote greater growth than urea further supports the contention that one of the major roles of dietary nitrogen in the ruminant is to supply the nitrogen requirements of the rumen bacteria. The results of the second experiment are presented in table 4. The growth of these lambs was considered satisfactory and only one animal was removed from the experiment. Weight gains for 5Hale and Burroughs: Purified Ration Studies with LambsPublished by UNI ScholarWorks, 19561956) STUDIES WITH LAMBS 433 the better gaining groups approach normal but are not as good as reported for some purified ration studies ( 8) . Addition of 15% wood meal (treatment 2) apeared not to in-crease weight gains over the straw only. However feed intake was increased by 18%. This increased feed intake accounts for the wood meal added to the ration. Schneider ( 6) reports a negligible energy value of wood meal with sheep. Feed intake with the wood-meal rations was considered good. Addition of yeast in connection with the wood meal had no effect upon weight gains or feed con-sumption (treatment 3). This is in contrast with the results in experiment I. However in experiment I no treatment without yeast made gains as large as corresponding treatments in experi-ment II. The water extraction of the straw appeared to have no effect upon gain or feed consumption. This would suggest that the bene-ficial effect of straw in a purified ration is its fibrous character rather than some specific water soluble nutrient. The two wood cellulose rations with the added yeast (treatments 5 & 6) gave weight gains similar to the corresponding treatments in experiment I. There was some suggestion that the ruptured yeast produced slightly higher gains than did the regular yeast. Feed consumption was 25% higher with the ruptured yeast group as compared with the regular yeast. Of special interest in experiment II is treatment 7 which re-ceived a mineral mixture containing no added cobalt. Weight gains and feed consumption were poor with this group. The effect of a cobalt deficient ration on the ruminant is well known ( 1) ( 3) . This low cobalt treatment and treatment 1 were formulated the same except for the cobalt in the mineral mixture. This would indicate that the poor results on treatment 7 was clue to the dele-tion of the cobalt from the mineral mixture. If these results can be verified then this type of ration would lend itself very well in studying the nutrition and metabolism of trace minerals in rumi-nants. To date trace mineral deficiencies in ruminants have been shown only with natural rations in which the mineral in question is extremely low. The purified ration offers an excellent opportunity to study the nutrient requirements of ruminants. However, from the above it is apparent that many factors are im·olvecl in the clcvdopment of a purified ration that will give growth similar to that expected on a natural ration. SUMMARY A purified ration was fed ruminating lambs in order to evaluate several dietary factors in an attempt to develop a suitable purified ration for lambs that will give growth rates similar to those obtained with natural rations. The basal ration was formulated as follows: 6Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 63 [1956], No. 1, Art. 42https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol63/iss1/42434 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE [Vol. 63 ground wheat straw 10.0, purified wood cellulose 20.0, corn starch 35.0, corn sugar 24.3, lard 3.0, urea 3.9, minerals 3.5, methionine 0.2, choline chloride 0.1, plus vitamins A, D and E. Factors studied were deletion of the wheat straw, addition of wood meal, water extraction of the straw, addition of yeast, substitution of the urea with two proteins and deletion of cobalt from the mineral mixture. The results in terms of rate of gain and feed consumption indicate that some fibrous material is nee<led in the ration of ruminants. Yeast apparently contains nutrients required by lambs consuming purified rations. In these experiments urea was as satisfactory as the proteins tested in supplying the nitrogen requirements of the animals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Victor Applegate in feeding and caring for the experimental animals. The following companies are acknowledged for furnishing feed ingredients used in these experiments; E. I. duPont de Nemours and Co., Inc., \Vilmington, Delaware; Chas. Pfizer and Co., Inc .. Brooklyn, N. Y.; Clinton Foods Inc., Clinton, Iowa; Merck and Co., Rahway, N. J.; Lakes States Yeast Corp., Rhinelander, Wis.; Commercial Solvents Corp., Terre Haute, Ind.; Monsanto Chem-ical Co., St. Louis, Mo. and American Cyanamid Co., N. Y., N. Y. Literature Cited 1. Cunningham, I. J. Diseases Caused by Deficiencies of Trace Elements. Adv. Veterinarv Sci., 2: 138, 1955. 2. Madsen, L. L., McCoy, C. M., Maynard, L. A., Davis, George K. and Woodward, J. C. Synthetic Diets for Hcrbrvora with Special Reference to the Toxicity of Cod-Liver Oil. CorncII Agr. Exp. Sta. Memoir 178, 1935. 3. Marston, Hedley R. Cobalt, Copper and Molybdenum in the Nutrition of Animals and Plants. Phy. Revs. 32:66, 1952. 4. Mead, S. W. and Goss, H. Ruminant Digestion without Roughage, J. Dairy Sci., 18:163, 1935. 5. Ruf, E. W., Hale, W. H. and Burroughs, Wise. Observations upon an Unidentified Factor in Feedstuffs Stimilatory to Cellulose Digestion in the Rumen and Improved Liveweight Gains in Lambs. J. Animal Sci., 12:731, 1953. 6. Schneider, B. H. Feeds of the World. Agric. Exp. Sta., Morgantown West Virginia, 194 7. ' 7. Starks, P. B., Hale, W. H. Garrigus, U. S. and Forbes, R. M. The Util-ization of Feed Nitrogen by Lambs as Affected bv Elemental Sulfur. J. Animal Sci .. 12:480, 195'.l. ' 8. Starks, P. B., Hale, W. H., Garrigus, U. S., Forbes, R. M. and James, M. F. Response of Lambs fed Varied Levels of Elemental Sulfur Sul-fate Sulfur and Methionine. J. Animal Sci., 13:249, 1954. ' 9. 'l:homas, . W._ E., Loosli, J .. K., Williams, H. H. and Maynard, L. A. 1 he U t1hzat10n of Inorgamc Sulfates and Urea Nitrogen by Lambs. J. Nutrition, 43:515, 1951. IowA ExPERDIENT STATI0:'-1 AMES, IowA 7Hale and Burroughs: Purified Ration Studies with LambsPublished by UNI ScholarWorks, 1956

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Purified Ration Studies with Lambs

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