Five rumen fistulated steers were used to study sugar cane degradation with several protein sources through in situ method. The treatments were sugar cane and urea; sugar cane and soybean meal; sugar cane, soybean meal and urea; sugar cane and corn gluten meal; sugar cane, corn gluten meal and urea; and at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours of incubation. After the incubation period, ammonia concentration and pH were determined in the ruminal fluid, sampled at times of 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 hours after feeding. Randomized blocks, with protein sources and times in split-plot scheme, was used. The ammonia concentration was higher in treatments with high quantity of degradable protein. However, it was observed no variation for treatments. pH data showed significant effect with higher values for treatments with higher quantity of degradable protein. No significant differences was observed were observed for treatments, just for time on residuals of dry matter and neutral detergent fiber, contradicting the theory of ration formulation systems to attend the degradable protein allowances to maximize fiber degradation.
ammonia; cattle; pH
