II. Quantitative aspects of phosphorus absorption in ruminants

Phosphorus absorption in ruminants was analysed from a database described in a previous article. For common values of ingested phosphorus (2.5-5.0 g x kg(-1) of DM), 0.73 of dietary phosphorus is absorbed. The remaining variability is probably due to phosphorus quality. Phosphorus absorbed from silage, cereal, cereal by-products and hay differs greatly. The current true absorption coefficient used to calculate daily phosphorus supply is a constant value in the current systems and often it underestimates the true absorption resulting in an excess of phosphorus being supplied in the diets. Adjusting the true absorption coefficient values requires better characterisation of the phosphorus supplied by each feedstuff. Dietary influences (phytate phosphorus, crude fibre, etc.) were investigated but trials assessing the ration effect on phosphorus absorption are lacking. Since rumen microbes have specific phosphorus requirements, particularly for cell-wall degradation, the feedstuffphosphorus availability for the rumen ecosystem is discussed.