ABSTRACT
Effects of variations in dietary sulfur on rumen sulfur dynamics were studied under steady state conditions. In the first experimental period, three sheep were given 33.3 g of a pelleted diet hourly containing 1.59 g sulfur/kg (low) and in the second period the sulfur content was increased to 3.21 g/kg (high) by the addition of sodium sulfate. The daily sulfur intake was 1.158 g on the low sulfur diet and .545 g of this passed from the rumen in protein, .614 g was calculated to be absorbed from the rumen as sulfide, and .052 g was estimated to be recycled to the rumen. For sheep with daily intakes of 2.317 g sulfur, 1.212 g passed from the rumen in protein, 1.078 g was absorbed from the rumen, and .093 g was estimated to be recycled. It was estimated that 127 and 165 g microbial protein were synthesized/kg organic matter "truly digested" in the rumen for low and high sulfur diets, respectively. A simple model using simultaneous equations was proposed to describe rumen sulfur metabolism.
