The effect of glandular tissue on digestion in the sheep

Abstract Digestibility and nitrogen balance trials were carried out with sheep to investigate the action of a commercial food additive, desiccated glandular tissue, on the digestion of hay and mixed hay and barley diets. Use of the additive led to small increases in the apparent digestibility of dietary organic constituents including crude fibre, nitrogen and, in some diets, ether extract. In a second series of experiments with rumen‐cannulated sheep the effects of the additive on rumen fermentation were examined using a variety of diets. Supplementation of the diet, in most instances, was associated with an increase in rumen pH and in the proportion of butyric acid in the mixture of short‐chain fatty acids in the rumen.