The plasma biochemical profile of ruminants serves as an indicator
of the metabolic status of their tissues, allowing the identification of
tissue lesions, organ dysfunction, animal adaptations due to nutritional
and physiological challenges and specific metabolic unbalances with a
nutritional cause (Cote & Hoff, 1991). Previous studies have shown
that blood urea concentrations are a good indication of the short-term,
nutritional protein content of ruminants (Kaneko, Harvey, & Bruss,
1997). Moreover, Morgan and Peters (1971) have described the influence of nutritional short-term protein content in albumin synthesis,
which can be a good indication of liver lesions. In this study, the diets