Passage rate and total clearance rate from the rumen of cows fed on grass silages differing in cell-wall content

Four non-lactating, rumen-fistulated cows were fed ad lib. on two grass silages (first cut (FC) and second cut (SC) harvested at different growth stages, resulting in different crude-protein (CP) and neutral-detergent-fibre (NDF) contents (FC, 152g CP/kg, 515g NDF/kg and SC, 210g CP/kg, 442g NDF/kg). Voluntary intake and rumen contents, total as well as organic matter were higher for silage FC. Fractional passage rate from the rumen, calculated from the logarithmic decline in Cr-NDF rumen pool, was higher for silage FC (0.0395/h and 0.0446/h for silages SC and FC respectively). When fractional passage rates from the rumen were calculated by dividing the intake of indigestible organic matter by the mean rumen pool of this fraction, the same differences between silages were found, although the actual levels were much lower (0.0258/h and 0.0300/h for silages SC and FC respectively). The results from the present experiment suggest that disappearance rate from the rumen of particles with a size between 1.25 and 0.071 mm is the rate-limiting step in the control of rumen fill.