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Excretion of purine derivatives by ruminants: recycling of allantoin into the rumen via saliva and its fate in the gut

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

X. B. Chen ,
F. D. DeB. Hovell  and
E. R. ØRskov
X. B. Chen
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
F. D. DeB. Hovell
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
E. R. ØRskov
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
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Abstract

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The saliva of sheep was shown to contain significant concentrations of uric acid (16 (sd) 4.5) μmol/l) and allantoin (120 (sd 16.4) μmol/l), sufficient to recycle purine derivatives equivalent to about 0.10 of the normal urinary excretion. When allantoin was incubated in vitro in rumen fluid, it was degraded at a rate sufficient to ensure complete destruction of recycled allantoin. In a series of experiments in which allantoin was infused into the rumen of sheep fed normally, or into the rumen or abomasum of sheep and the rumen of cattle completely nourished by intragastric infusion of volatile fatty acids and casein, no additional allantoin was recovered in the urine. These losses were probably due to the degradation of allantoin by micro-organisms associated with the digestive tract. It is concluded that all allantoin and uric acid recycled to the rumen via saliva will be similarly degraded. Therefore, the use of urinary excretion of purine derivatives as an estimator of the rumen microbial biomass available to ruminants will need to be corrected for such losses.

Keywords

AllantoinUric acidMicrobial degradationSheep
Type
Rumen Digestion and Metabolism
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , March 1990 , pp. 197 - 205
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1990

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