Evaluation of 15N marked urea in the laying hen. 4. Incorporation of 15N in blood, its fractions and follicles in various developmental stages

In order to study the utilization of urea in poultry, 3 colostomized laying hybrids were orally supplied with a traditional ration supplemented with 1% 15N'-labelled urea with a 15N excess (15N') of 96.06 atom-% over a period of 6 days. After another 2 days on which the hens received the same ration with unlabelled urea, they were butchered. The atom-% 15N' of the blood on an average of the 3 hens was 0.64, of the plasma 1.40 and of the corpuscles 0.47. The TCA-soluble fraction of the blood had an average 15N' of 1.14 atom-%; the 15N amount is 9.7% of the total amount of 15N in the blood. The amount of 15N' in the urea in the blood was 6.8 atom-%. This shows that the absorbed urea is decomposed very slowly. The quota of 15N' in the basic amino acids from the total 15N' of the blood plasma is only 0.3% and that of the corpuscles 2.2%. The average 15N' of the mature follicles is 2.39 atom-% whereas the smallest and the remaining ovary contain 1.12 atom-%. The labelling level of lysine in mature egg cells was, in contrast to this, only 0.08 atom-% 15N' and in infantile follicles 0.04 atom-% 15N'. 1% of the 15N' quota is in the follicles and the remaining ovary. Of the basic amino acids, histidine is most strongly labelled. The as a whole lower incorporation of the 15N from urea into the basic amino acids shows that the nitrogen of this compound can be used for the synthesis of the essential amino acids to a low degree only.