The joint FAO/IAEA document stated that
“buffaloes have much lower (and more variable)
urinary excretion of PD per unit DOMI than cattle.
The urinary PD excretion in buffalo is not related to
lower supply of microbial cells from the rumen, nor
to absorption of purines from the small intestine,
but to differences in tissue metabolism for which
mechanisms are not fully understood” (Joint FAO/
IAEA, 2002). For these reasons they recommended
there was a need to elucidate mechanisms that cause
buffaloes to be different from cattle with respect to
PD excretion. Studies in Vietnam were carried out
in order to understand the reason why buffalo can
better tolerate low N feed resources than cattle.