Protein supplement resistant against ruminal degradation as a factor improving utilization of urea in ruminant feeding.

The metabolic and productive effects of the blood meal and formaldehyde (FA) treated casein supplements (5-10% of crude protein content) given with urea concentrates in sheep and fattening bulls were investigated. The blood meal has a similar composition of essential amino acids (EAA) to casein. The mean solubility of the FA treated casein and the blood meal after 6 hours of incubation in the sterilized rumen contents amounted 10.5% and 8.5% respectively. The average rumen ammonia concentration and plasma urea level was the highest in bulls fed urea ration without protected protein supplement. The supplementation of this ration with blood meal diminished the large daily fluctuation of plasma AA level and increased plasma EAA/NEAA ratio. The blood meal supplement improved the nitrogen retention in sheep (14%) and body gains in bulls (9%) but did not influence digestible coefficients and rumen protein synthesis in sheep.