Biomaterial Database

Rates of rumen fermentation in relation to ammonia concentration. 1977

A Z Mehrez, and E R Orskov, and I McDonald

1. Four sheep were fed from automatic continuous feeders on whole barley fortified with graded levels of a urea solution. This approach was to a large extent successful in maintaining relatively steady states of rumen ammonia concentration. 2. Rates of barley fermentation in the rumen at various rumen NH3 concentrations were assessed by measuring the disappearance of barley dry matter from polyester bags suspended in the rumen of these sheep. 3. The minimal NH3 concentration for maximal rate of fermentation was estimated as 235 mg/l rumen fluid.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D005285	Fermentation	Anaerobic degradation of GLUCOSE or other organic nutrients to gain energy in the form of ATP. End products vary depending on organisms, substrates, and enzymatic pathways. Common fermentation products include ETHANOL and LACTIC ACID.	Fermentations
D000641	Ammonia	A colorless alkaline gas. It is formed in the body during decomposition of organic materials during a large number of metabolically important reactions. Note that the aqueous form of ammonia is referred to as AMMONIUM HYDROXIDE.
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001467	Hordeum	A plant genus of the family POACEAE. The EDIBLE GRAIN, barley, is widely used as food.	Barley,Hordeum vulgare
D012417	Rumen	The first stomach of ruminants. It lies on the left side of the body, occupying the whole of the left side of the abdomen and even stretching across the median plane of the body to the right side. It is capacious, divided into an upper and a lower sac, each of which has a blind sac at its posterior extremity. The rumen is lined by mucous membrane containing no digestive glands, but mucus-secreting glands are present in large numbers. Coarse, partially chewed food is stored and churned in the rumen until the animal finds circumstances convenient for rumination. When this occurs, little balls of food are regurgitated through the esophagus into the mouth, and are subjected to a second more thorough mastication, swallowed, and passed on into other parts of the compound stomach. (From Black's Veterinary Dictionary, 17th ed)	Rumens
D012756	Sheep	Any of the ruminant mammals with curved horns in the genus Ovis, family Bovidae. They possess lachrymal grooves and interdigital glands, which are absent in GOATS.	Ovis,Sheep, Dall,Dall Sheep,Ovis dalli
D014508	Urea	A compound formed in the liver from ammonia produced by the deamination of amino acids. It is the principal end product of protein catabolism and constitutes about one half of the total urinary solids.	Basodexan,Carbamide,Carmol