The objectives of this work were to validate the predictions based on the estimates of the ruminal nutrient dynamics and on the microbial growth in the rumen, using equations of the Cornell Submodel system relative to the gastrintestinal tract. Four Holstein - Zebu steers, with 300 kg live weight, rumen and abomasal cannulated were allotted to 4x4 latin square design. The experimental animals received sugar cane based diets, supplemented with two nitrogen sources (urea or poultry litter) and two yeast levels (0 or 10 g / d), being constituted 2x2 factorial arrangement. The indigestible neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and chromium mordant sugar cane NDF were used as internal and external markers to estimate the daily fecal production and the ruminal particle passage rates. The dynamics of the nutrients was based on the determination of the total nitrogen and the abomasal nitrogen flows of microbial origin and total carbohydrate digested in the rumen. The microbial yield was not influenced by nitrogen sources or by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Cornell system overestimated the total ruminal carbohydrates digestion and the nitrogen flow of microbial origin and underestimated total nitrogen flow in the abomasum.
microbial efficiency; CNCPS system; rate of passage; ruminant nutrition
