Intestine digestible amino acids
Intestine digestible amino acids are amino acids available at the gut level for use in maintenance, growth and production. The microbial protein produced in the rumen is the largest supplier of intestinal digestible amino acids and contains a favorable amino acid pattern for milk protein production.
However, in high-producing cows, an increasing proportion of intestinal digestible protein consists of resistant feed protein. Here, lysine and methionine appear to be the first-limiting amino acids. In rations based on grass silage, the amino acid histidine can also become limiting. The addition of methionine, possibly in combination with lysine, mainly increases the milk protein content, and to a lesser extent milk production.
The amount of intestinal digestible lysine and methionine is calculated in the same way as the intestinal digestible protein fraction.
Eurofins Agro can report the content of intestinal digestible lysine and methionine in silage results.