The objective of this trial was to investigate ruminal, intestinal and total tract digestibility of acid detergent insoluble nitrogen (ADIN) in grazing cattle. Five Holstein x Zebu steers averaging 304 kg of body weight and 24 months of age and fitted with esophageal, ruminal and abomasal cannulas were used in this study. Animals were maintained in five 0.34-ha paddocks of Brachiaria decumbens with or without concentrate supplementation. The experiment was conducted from August to November of 2000 using four 21-days experimental periods. Evaluation of the forage ingested by the animals was done by collecting esophageal extrusa samples. The flow of fecal and abomasal dry matter was estimated by using both internal and external markers. Statistical analysis of ADIN digestibility was conducted by adjustment of the linear regression equation with no intercept in the model and using ADIN inflow as independent variable and ADIN outflow as dependent variable. The deviation of the regression coefficient from the parametrical value 1.0 was considered to be digestible matter. Comparison between intake and abomasum and fecal flows of ADIN indicated that the observed total tract digestibility (30.7%) of this nitrogen fraction occurred exclusively in the intestine. Therefore, ADIN content of feeds can be considered only as an indicator but not as a predictor of nitrogen compounds potential digestibility.
ADIN; Brachiaria decumbens; intake; nitrogenous compounds fractions
