Rumen undegradable protein content of native range and sub irrigated meadow forages

The in situ mobile bag procedure was used to compare rumen undegradable protein (RUP) content and RUP digestibility of Nebraska Sandhills range and meadow diet samples. Meadow samples (n = 12) were from June, July and August of 2 years while range samples (n = 19) were from June, July, September and December of 6 years. Samples were collected using esophageally fistulated cows (samples from 2 cows composited per time point), freeze-dried, and ground through a 2 mm screen. For each sample, 1.25 g was weighed into 8 replicate 8×10 cm Dacron bags with 50-μm pore size. Rumen incubation time was based on estimated digestibility and passage rate. Following rumen incubation, analysis of neutral detergent insoluble N (NDIN) on one-half of the bags was used to calculate RUP content. Remaining bags were treated with pepsin/HCl solution (37 °C) and stirred for three hours before duodenal incubation. Analysis of NDIN after recovery from feces determined RUP digestibility. Data were analyzed using month as a fixed effect and year and experiment as random effects. In meadow samples, CP (15.0% of DM) was consistent across June, July, and August (P = 0.72). Range samples tended to differ in CP content (P = 0.11), with June, July and September being similar (8.15% of DM) while December was 6.01%. In meadow samples, RUP averaged 21.9% of CP while range samples averaged 26.7% of CP, with no differences due to month (P ≥ 0.32). Because CP content was changing in range samples, RUP as a % of DM tended (P = 0.14) to decrease in December (1.66) compared to June, July, and Sept (2.25). In meadow samples, RUP digestibility (%) declined from 74.7% in June to 61.4% in July and Aug (P = 0.07). RUP digestibility (%) averaged 43.9% for all range samples (P = 0.66).