The effect of haemonchosis and blood loss into the abomasum on digestion in sheep
Authors: Rowe J. B. , Nolan J. V. , de Chaneet G. , Teleni E. , Holmes P. H. 
Published: May 2005

1. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the abomasal parasite, Haemonchus contortus, on the pattern of digestion and nutrient utilization in Merino sheep. There were three groups of sheep: infected with H. contortus (300 larvae/kg live weight) (n 5), sham-infected by transferring blood from the jugular vein to the abomasum, and uninfected (control) sheep (n 9) which were fed daily rations equal to amounts consumed by ‘paired’ animals in the two other treatment groups. A diet containing (g/kg): lucerne (Medicago sativa) chaff 490, oat chaff 480, ground limestone 10, urea 10, and sodium chloride 10, was given in equal amounts at 3-h intervals.

2. Continuous intrarumen infusions (8 d) of chromium and ytterbium were made in order to measure the flow of digesta through the rumen, duodenum and ileum with 15NH4Cl included in the infusate for the final 3 d. The loss of blood into the gastrointestinal tract was measured using 51Cr-labelled erythrocytes and the rate of irreversible loss of plasma urea was measured with reference to a single intravenous injection of [14C]urea. Samples of rumen fluid were taken for analysis of volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations.

3. The infected and sham-infected sheep developed severe anaemia during the period over which digestion and metabolism measurements were made (packed cell volume 0·118 (SE 0·0042) and 0.146 (SE 0·0073) respectively). The corresponding rates of blood loss into the gastrointestinal tracts were 253 (SE 23) and 145 (SE 17) ml/d.

4. The proportions of VFA in rumen fluid were altered (P < 0·05) in the infected group with a decrease in the ratio, acetate: propionate (control 3·28, infected 2·58, standard error of difference (SED)(0·21). There was also an increase in rumen fluid outflow rate (P < 0·01) from 4·05 litres/d in the control group to 5.53 litres/d in the infected group (SED) 0·43). Water intake was higher (P < 0·05) in the infected than in the control animals (2·25 and 1·84 litres/d respectively; SED 0·14).

5. There was a decrease (P < 0·05) in apparent digestion of organic matter in the forestomachs of infected sheep (0·32 compared with 0·39 in the control, SED 0·02). There was also a decrease (P < 0·05) in the apparent digestion of organic matter across the whole digestive tract (0·65 control, 0·61 infected, SED 0·013).

6. There was a loss of 2·6 and 1·8 g blood nitrogen/d into the gastrointestinal tract of the infected and sham-infected sheep respectively. In the infected sheep approximately 50 % of this N was accounted for as additional ammonia leaving the abomasum compared with 20% in the sham-infected group. The additional non-ammonia-N (NAN) entering the duodenum of parasitized or sham-infected animals was reabsorbed before the ileum. There was no effect of infection or sham-infection on the synthesis or digestion of microbial NAN.

7. There was a higher (P < 0·001) rate of plasma urea irreversible loss in the infected sheep (8·9 control, 12·2 infected, 10·9 sham-infected, SED (control v. treated) 0·87 g N/d). This was apparently due to increased absorption of ammonia and increased urea excretion and transfer to the gut.

8. The results show that in sheep infected with H. contortus there was a considerable increase in the amount of additional endogenous N entering the duodenum. Although the extra N lost into the gastrointestinal tract was reabsorbed before the digesta reached the ileum the animals suffered a net loss of amino acids since part of the reabsorbed N was in the form of ammonia and reabsorbed NAN was apparently ineffectively utilized.