RENAL REGULATION OF UREA EXCRETION IN SWAMP BUFFALO FED WITH HIGH PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTATION

The effect of supplemented high protein diet intake on renal urea regulation in swamp buffalo was carried out in the present experiment Five swamp buffalo heifers weighing between 208-284 kg were used for this study. The animals were fed with a supplementary high protein diet and renal function and kinetic parameters for urea excretion were measured. This was compared to a control period where the same animals had been fed only with paragrass and water hyacinth. For 2 months the same animals were fed a mixed of paragrass, water hyacinth plus 2 kgs of a high protein supplement (protein 18.2% DM basis) per head per day. In comparison to the control period, there were no differences in the rate of urine flow, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), plasma urea concentration and filtered urea. In animals supplemented with high protein intake mean values of urea clearance, excretion rate and the urea urine/plasma concentration ratio markedly increased (p < 0.05) while renal urea reabsorption significantly decreased from 40% to 26% of the quantity filtered. In this same study group urea space distribution and urea pool size increased which coincided with an increase in plasma volume (p < 0.05). Plasma protein decreased while plasma osmolarity increased (p < 0.05). Both urea turnover rate and biological half-life of $^{14}C$-urea were not affected by a supplementary high protein intake. The results suggest that animals supplemented with high protein diets are in a state of dynamic equilibrium of urea which is well balanced between urea excreted into the urine and the amount synthesized. The limitation for renal tubular urea reabsorption would be a change in extra-renal factors with an elevation of the total pool size of nitrogenous substance.