Effects of the ruminal comminution rate and microbial contamination of particles on accuracy of in situ estimates of ruminal degradability and intestinal digestibility of feedstuffs.

Effects of considering the comminution rate -kc- and the correction of microbial contamination -using 15N techniques- of particles in the rumen on estimates of ruminally undegraded fractions and their intestinal digestibility were examined generating composite samples -from rumen-incubated residues- representative of the undegraded feed rumen outflow. The study used sunflower meal -SFM- and Italian ryegrass hay -RGH- and three rumen and duodenum cannulated wethers fed with a 40:60 RGH to concentrate diet -75 g DM/kgBW0.75-. Transit studies up to the duodenum with Yb-SFM and Eu-RGH marked samples showed higher kc values -/h- in SFM than in RGH -0.577 vs. 0.0892, p = 0.034-, whereas similar values occurred for the rumen passage rate -kp-. Estimates of ruminally undegraded and intestinal digestibility of all tested fractions decreased when kc was considered and also applying microbial correction. Thus, microbial uncorrected kp-based proportions of intestinal digested undegraded crude protein overestimated those corrected and kc-kp-based by 39% in SFM -0.146 vs. 0.105- and 761% in RGH -0.373 vs. 0.0433-. Results show that both kc and microbial contamination correction should be considered to obtain accurate in situ estimates in grasses, whereas in protein concentrates not considering kc is an important source of error.

Origen y distribución de tierras raras (RREs) en el agua y sedimentos de la Laguna de El Hito (Cuenca, España Central).

Determination of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in the waters and sediments of El Hito Lake and its drainage basin was carried out. Distribution maps for REEs concentrations show increasing values in the lake sediments from the center to the eastern edge reaching 166.5 mg/kg. In the drainage basin, higher values were observed with a maximum of 350.9 mg/kg in the southern part. Concentrations in the water were considerably lower with a maximum value of 1.3 µg/L. Ce, La and Nd were the most abundant elements. When normalized REE concentrations against NASC (North American Shale Composite), a positive anomaly of Eu in the water and of Nd in the sediments (lake and basin) was observed. The (La/Gd)NASC and (La/Yb)NASC ratios determined the predominance of light REE (LREE) over medium (MREE) and heavy REE (HREE). Key-words: Rare Earth Elements, lacustrine sediments and water, Eu anomaly, sulfates RESUMEN: Se llevó a cabo el estudio de Tierras Raras (REEs) del agua y los sedimentos de la Laguna de El Hito así como de su cuenca de recepción. Los mapas de distribución de las concentraciones de REE en los sedimentos de la laguna mostraron valores crecientes desde el centro hacia el margen este alcanzando 166.5 mg/kg. En la cuenca se midieron valores más elevados llegando hasta 350.9 mg/kg en la mitad sur. Los valores en el agua fueron notablemente inferiores, con un máximo de 1.3 µg/L. El elemento más abundante fue el Ce seguido del Nd. Se normalizaron las concentraciones de REEs frente a las del NASC (North American Shale Composite), observándose una anomalía positiva de Eu en el agua, así como de Nd en los sedimentos (laguna y cuenca). Mediante los índices (La/Gd)NASC y (La/Yb)NASC se determinó el predominio de las REEs ligeras (LREEs) frente a las medias (MREE) y pesadas (HREE).