Improving feed efficiency and reducing nutrient excretion
into the environment are essential elements for sustainable dairy production
worldwide. In high quality forage diets fed ruminants, majority of dietary
proteins can be rapidly degraded, releasing between 56 and 65% of dietary
nitrogen (N) in the rumen during microbial fermentation.
Consequently, large losses of N as urea into urine (25-35%)
occur after ammonia is absorbed through rumen wall, which is the primary source
of volatile N to the environment. Thus, losses of dietary N can be reduced by
decreasing protein degradation in the rumen. Simultaneously, methane (CH4) is produced in the
rumen as a part of the normal process of ruminal feed digestion.
Typically, about 6 to 10% of the total gross energy consumed
by dairy cows is converted to CH4 which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions
in the environment. A variety of strategies have been studied to improve
ruminal N metabolism and mitigate CH4 production, and feeding or supplementing
specific substances as rumen modifiers that directly or indirectly inhibit
ruminal N degradation as well as methanogenesis has been one of the most sought
opportunities.
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