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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2017
Rumen microbes are rich in nucleic acid: around 18% of total nitrogen is present on nucleic acids or 11% in purines. Rumen microbes constitue the major source of protein supply to the ruminant. The purines from the rumen microbes are metabolized and excreted in the urine as their end products: hypoxanthine, xanthine, uric acid and allantoin. In buffalo and cattle because of high xanthine oxidase activity in intestine and blood, hypoxanthine and xanthine convert to uric acid therefore only uric acid and allantoin excreted in urine way (Chen, X. B., Ørskov, E. R., 2003). This research carried out to use excretion of purine derivatives namely allantoin and uric acid as a parameter to estimate the microbial protein synthesis in the rumen of native swamp buffalo in north of iran, Mazandaran Province.