1. Ewes of the Booroola x Romney genotype carrying triplet lambs were given fresh forages ad lib. in late pregnancy. In Expt 1, groups of three ewes were given kale (Brassica oleracea), perennial ryegrass (Loliumperenne) or perennial ryegrass (0.75)–barley (0.25). In Expt 2, groups of two or three ewes were given fresh perennial ryegrass and infused into the abomasum with iso-energetic quantities of casein and glucose in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. Post-lambing ewe live weights were 40–50 kg. Glucose irreversible loss (GIL) was determined from dilution of D-[U-14C]glucose.

2. For ewes given kale, perennial ryegrass and perennial ryegrass—barley in Expt 1, mean metabolizable energy (ME) intakes were 0.50, 0.82 and 0.83 MJ/kg live Weight0.75 per d, GIL was 112, 142 and 157 g/d, and mean birth weight 2.22, 3.05 and 2.95 kg/lamb.

3. In Expt 2, infusion of glucose, casein, and glucose+casein depressed herbage ME intake respectively by 1.6, 0.9 and 0.3 times the amount of ME infused. GIL (185–325 g/d) was increased by 800 and 350 g respectively for each kg of glucose or casein infused. Casein infusion increased calculated amino acid absorption from 0.18 to 0.36 of ME, increased wool growth and increased calculated maternal N balance. Birth weight was unaffected by nutritional treatment and averaged 3.29 kg/lamb.

4. When values from both experiments were combined, birth weight was related to GIL by a hyperbolic relation, with maximum predicted birth weight being 4.1 kg/lamb. It was postulated that this value was never attained in practice, due to uterine expansion being restricted by the low maternal body size. Marked decreases in birth weight occurred when GIL decreased below 173 g/d.

5. It was calculated that ewes in all treatment groups were in negative energy balance, and that glucose supplied by the kale and unsupplemented ryegrass diets were respectively below and equal to calculated conceptus uptakes of glucose necessary to maintain growth of triplet fetuses. It was further calculated that amino acid requirements of triplet-bearing ewes in late pregnancy were likely to exceed substantially net absorption from digestion of fresh forage diets, and that maternal tissues go into negative N balance to ensure fetal growth, thus explaining the lack of response to abomasal casein infusion.

1. In two separate experiments, using different strains, broiler chicks were reared on either a commercial-type chick mash (control) or a fatty liver and kidney syndrome (FLKS)-inducing diet.

2. In Expt a, chicks were killed on day 29 and in Expt b, on day 32. Body-weights and liver weights were measured, and values from those given the control ration used to construct a hepatomegaly index by employing a variant of linear discriminant analysis.

3. Application of the index to FLKS birds revealed a statistically significant bimodal distribution of liver size.

4. The birds with enlarged livers (high index) also possessed metabolic abnormalities in that 6- phosphofructokinase (EC 2. 7. 1. 11; PFK-1) activity (measured at low substrate concentration) was depressed despite the presence of normal, or even slightly elevated fructose 2,6-bisphosphate concentration.

5. This indicates the presence of an uncharacterized regulatory mechanism for PFK- 1 in FLKS-susceptible birds.

1. Estimates of degradability of nitrogen in the sheep rumen for a basal hay diet and for soya-bean meal (SBM), groundnut meal (GNM) and fish meal (FM), when given together with the hay, were determined from measurements of (1) duodenal N flow, (2) ammonia kinetics and (3) rumen N disappearance from polyester bags and rumen outflow rate. The ability of various in vitro procedures to predict in vivo N degradability was also examined.

2. Four sheep were given a basal hay diet (800 g dry matter (DM) and 19 g N/d) either alone or supplemented with isonitrogenous amounts (15 g N/d) of SBM, GNM or FM. Duodenal non-ammonia-N flow (g/d) was increased more by FM (8.0) than by GNM (5.9) and SBM (5.8), whilst microbial N flow (g/d) was increased more by SBM (3.9) than by GNM (2.3) and FM (1.6). N degradability values calculated from these results were 0.88, 0.76 and 0.57 for the SBM, GNM and FM respectively. The corresponding value for hay was calculated to be 0.76.

3. The irreversible loss of ammonia in the forestomachs (g N/d) was increased more by SBM (11.9) than by GNM (7.2) and FM (5.8) whilst ammonia outflow from the rumen (g N/d) was increased to a similar extent by all supplements ( I.1, 0.9 and 0.8 respectively), as was the amount of microbial N (g/d) synthesized from sources other than rumen ammonia (1.8, 2.0 and 1.9 respectively). N degradability values calculated from these results were 0.84, 0.54 and 0.45 for the SBM, GNM and FM respectively.

4. The fractional rate of N disappearance (/h) when the feedstuffs were incubated in polyester bags in the rumen of sheep receiving the basal hay diet (800 g DM/d) was the highest for SBM (0,145) and lowest for FM (0.037), with the hay (0.082) and GNM (0.071) intermediate, whilst the fractional outflow rates from the rumen (/h) of the three supplements were similar (0.034, 0.038 and 0,030 for SBM, GNM and FM espectively). N degradability values calculated from these results were 0.82, 0.67 and 0.60 for the SBM, GNM and FM respectively; the value for the hay was 0.73.

5. Of a number of in vitro procedures tested, only N solubility in sodium hydroxide and ammonia or total non-protein-N (NPN) production during incubation with rumen fluid in the absence of hydrazine sulphate ranked the supplements, although not the hay, in the same order as the in vivo degradability procedures. In terms of absolute values, N solubility in NaOH, at room temperature, gave estimates similar to those derived from the duodenal flow measurements; estimates derived from ammonia and total NPN production were lower.