The Benefits of Adding Sulfur and Urea to a Concentrate Mixture on the Utilization of Feed, Rumen Fermentation, and Milk Production in Dairy Cows Supplemental Fresh Cassava Root

Table 4

Effect of sulfur and urea levels on thiocyanate (SCN⁻), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), thyroid hormones, and liver enzymes in dairy cows.

Items	Sulfur-1		Sulfur-2		SEM	value
	Urea-1	Urea-2	Urea-1	Urea-2		Sulfur	Urea	Sulfur  urea
Serum SCN^−, μg/ml	13.75^a	13.25^a	16.25^b	16.00^b	0.86	0.011	0.673	0.888
BUN, mg/dl	8.85^a	9.35^b	8.94^a	9.83^b	0.14	0.097	0.001	0.064
T3, mg/dl	165.48	165.73	164.05	164.65	8.39	0.884	0.961	0.984
T4, mg/dl	8.04	7.26	8.29	7.25	1.32	0.930	0.504	0.921
ALT, µ/l	24.25	22.50	26.75	22.00	2.71	0.719	0.254	0.591
AST, µ/l	81.50	80.50	82.25	81.75	6.16	0.873	0.905	0.968

Sulfur-1 and sulfur-2 = sulfur addition into concentrate at 10 g/kg DM and 20 g/kg DM. Urea-1 and urea-2 = urea addition into concentrate at 10 g/kg DM and 20 g/kg DM; SEM = standard error of mean; T3 = triiodothyronine; ALT = alanine aminotransferase; ASTS = aspartate aminotransferase (AST); T4 = thyroxine; sulfur  urea = interaction effect between sulfur and urea; ^a,bmeans in the same row with different superscript letters are accepted as significantly different ().