Effect of fat supplementation on nitrogen utilisation of lambs and nitrogen emission from their manure

The effects of various fats on nitrogen digestion and metabolism of lambs and their manure were investigated in six isoenergetic diets (n = 6) with similar contents of absorbable protein. Treatments were either a control diet or diets containing 25 g/kg of additional ether extract from rumen-protected fat, coconut oil, rapeseed, sunflower seed or linseed. Fat supplementation resulted in trends for higher apparent nitrogen digestibilities (significant with coconut oil; P < 0.05, post hoc test) and body nitrogen retention (P < 0.1). Urinary nitrogen losses and their proportion of manure nitrogen did not differ significantly among groups as was also true for C / N ratio, dry matter, nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen contents of the manure. In the first week of manure storage, most fat supplements tended to decrease gaseous nitrogen emission as assessed by respiration chamber and mass balance measurements. These differences tended to be mitigated after 7 weeks of manure storage. Only the coconut-oil treatment still resulted in numerically lower nitrogen emissions. In conclusion, addition of fat source in the diet, in addition to increasing dietary energy and suppressing methanogenesis, can under certain circumstances decrease gaseous nitrogen emission from the manure.