Effect of Nitrate Supplementation on Digestion, Rumen Fermentation, Plasma Metabolites, and Nitrogen Use in Sheep Fed a High-Forage Diet.

Dietary nitrate (NO3 -) is an alternative non-protein nitrogen (NPN) source and has mitigation effects on enteric methane emission in ruminants. This study investigated the effects of NO3 - supplementation on rumen fermentation, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen (N) utilization, focusing on urea-N and amino acid metabolism in sheep fed a high-forage diet. Six Suffolk wethers were assigned to a 2 × 2 crossover design conducted over two periods of 40 days each. Dietary treatments included supplementation with either urea (1.4% dry matter [DM]) or calcium nitrate tetrahydrate (5.8% DM). Each supplement contributed 32% of the daily crude protein supply (12% of DM). Intake, nutrient digestibility, N balance, ruminal volatile fatty acid (VFA) profiles, and plasma fluxes of urea-N and phenylalanine were not affected by NO3 - supplementation, with a trend (p = 0.075) toward reduced DM digestibility. Ruminal ammonia-N (p = 0.004) and plasma urea-N (p < 0.001) concentrations were lower, whereas ruminal NO3 --N (p = 0.045) and plasma glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol concentrations were higher (p < 0.001) with NO3 - supplementation compared to urea. These results demonstrate that NO3 - can substitute for urea as an NPN source without affecting intake, ruminal VFA profiles, and urea-N production in sheep.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Animal science journal = Nihon chikusan Gakkaiho

• Publication date

  2026-01-01

• Fields of study

  Agricultural and Food Sciences, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/asj.70145PMID 41492898
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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