The protein requirement of the ruminant calf. III. The ability of the calf weaned at five weeks of age to utilise urea given as a supplement to a low-protein concentrate

Abstract

(1) Forty-five Ayrshire and Shorthorn bull calves were used in an experiment to study the ability of the calf weaned at 5 weeks on to concentrates, hay and water, to utilise urea added to a low-protein concentrate. (2) Calves given the concentrate containing 20% crude protein gained weight significantly faster from 3 to 12 weeks than those given concentrates containing either 12% crude protein, or 18% crude protein of which 33% was in the form of urea. There was a tendency for calves given the urea supplement to gain weight at a slightly faster rate to 8 weeks than those given the low-protein diet, but this tendency was reversed between 8 and 12 weeks of age. (3) At 15 weeks, the coefficients of apparent digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre and nitrogen-free extract were significantly greater when an all-concentrate diet containing 19·6% crude protein was given, than with a concentrate containing 12·2% crude protein. When the lowprotein concentrate supplemented with urea was given (18·5% crude protein) the apparent digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and ether extract was significantly greater than on the low-protein concentrate. The digestibility of crude fibre in the urea-supplemented diet was intermediate between the values obtained on the high- and low-protein diets. (4) Despite marked differences between treatments in the intakes of apparently digested nitrogen, similar amounts of nitrogen were retained, because of large differences in the amounts of nitrogen excreted in the urine. However, the amount of nitrogen stored per unit of body-weight gain was 27% higher in calves given the concentrate containing 19·6% crude protein than in those given either the low-protein concentrate or the urea-supplemented diet.