Nutritional and genetical factors influencing Nitrogen metabolism and excretion in dairy cows: A review
2021
Daniel Cătălin Necula | Igori Balta | Nicolae Corionivoschi | Lavinia Stef
This paper aimed to review the literature concerning nitrogen metabolism and excretion in dairy cows in the light of actual global climate change picture. Nutritional factors like dietary crude protein or dietary carbohydrate concentration have a significant effect on nitrogen balance, through the decreasing capacity of the total N excretion and improving the milk nitrogen efficiency. At the same time, the protein and carbohydrate degradability rates and dietary minerals will impact the route of excretion from urinary to a more faecal path. Shifting between urinary to faecal pathway could benefit to the mitigation of air pollution as the faecal nitrogen content is less prone to volatilisation compared to the urine nitrogen. Feed additives such as direct feed microbials, plant secondary metabolites and rumen-protected amino acids can mitigate and shift the N excretion from the urinary to the faecal pathway. Finally, breeding animals for lower MUN traits could also be considered as an efficient approach for a longer-term strategy to reduce N emissions.
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