In an experiment with six fattening bulls the influence of the polyether antibiotic "Monensin" (200 mg/animal and day) on the rumen physiologic parameters before and one, two, three and six hours resp. after the feeding of rations rich in dried sugar beet was investigated. The parameters of rumen fermentation are significantly influenced by the time of rumen fluid sampling and by the quota of dried sugar beet in the concentrated feed (40 and 80% resp.). The effect of "Monensin" supplementation was a narrowing of the acetate: propionate proportion in the rumen fluid over the complete period of the experiment. The molar butyrate quota was distinctly diminished in comparison with earlier feeding experiments with fattening bulls. This effect is caused by the relatively higher values of the butyric acid content in the rumen fluid, which is due to the high quota of dried sugar beet in the concentrated feed.

4 digestibility trials (4 male sheep per group) and 2 growth trials were carried out with 24 (V 1) and 32 (V 2) fattening lambs to investigate the effect of abundant oral Fe doses on the digestibility of crude nutrients in a ration of barley + dried green feed and on the results of fattening and carcass yields. Fe supplementation (less than 1400 mg per sheep/day) did not significantly change the digestibility coefficients of crude nutrients. Increasing Fe levels in the concentrates decreased the rates of liveweight increase and food consumption in both growth trials. Well-established statistical evidence was provided for the decline in absolute carcass yields resulting from the lower weight of the lambs at the end of the fattening period after Fe supplementation.

In an individual feeding experiment (150-500 kg live weight) the influence of the polyether antibiotic Monensin on the fattening, slaughtering and retention performances of crossbreeding dairy bulls (genotype 31) and fattening hybrids (genotype 61) was ascertained. The supplementation of the polyether antibiotic on average resulted in a decrease by approximately equal to 11% of the dry matter and energy expenditure per kg weight gain due to a lower feed intake and a higher live weight gain. The slaughtering parameter investigated and the chemical composition of the empty body remained uninfluenced. The daily nutrient retention values were positively influenced by the Monensin supplementation since the fattening bulls of the test group required 30 days less to achieve the attempted fattening weight. The additional retention of protein, fat and energy per animal and day in the dairy bulls approximately equal to 10.9; 13.5 and 16.4% and in the fattening hybrids 1.9; 3.2 and 2.6%. Due to a higher energy retention at a lower level of feed and energy intake after Monensin supplementation an average of approximately equal to 11.3 and 15.4% resp. more of the consumed digestible protein and the digestible energy resp. were retained in the empty bodies. One can conclude that Monensin improved the utilisation of feed energy; obviously the effect of the polyether antibiotic is due to its influence on processes in the rumen or directly or indirectly on metabolism.

The influence of the polyether antibiotic Monensin on the rumen fermentation and the fattening results of fattening hybrids (genotype 61) and crossbreeding bulls of dairy cattle (genotype 19) was ascertained in two feeding experiments (E1 and E2). Caused by the supplementation of the antibiotic, the molar acetate quota decreased (1.9 to 4.8 Mol %) and the molar propionate concentration increased (0.2 to 2.9 Mol %) in the rumen fluid of crossbreeding bulls of dairy cattle and of fattening hybrids, it is, however, below the range described in literature. With the exception of the fattening hybrids in E1, the supplementation of Monensin resulted in the diminished intake of dry matter, the daily increase of the live weight of all groups of fattening bulls was higher (E1: fattening hybrids: 1106 resp. 1199g; crossbreeding bulls of dairy cattle: 1037 resp. 1058 g; E2: 997 resp. 1024 g; 895 resp. 981 g without resp. with Monensin). After the Monensin supplementation the crossbreeding bulls of dairy cattle showed a distinctly bigger decrease of the feed intake and a rise of the live weight increase than the fattening hybrids. For this reason the genotypes of dairy cattle showed in both experiments after the Monensin supplementation a bigger decrease of expenditure (0.8 resp. 7.1% and 5.6 resp. 11.3% in experiments 1 and 2) than the fattening hybrids.

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