The measurement of entry rates of propionate and of butyrate in sheep

Amino Acids in Beef Cattle Nutrition and Production

Proteins have been recognized for a long time as an important dietary nutritional component for all animals. Most amino acids were isolated and characterized in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Initially dietary proteins were ranked high to low quality by growth and N balance studies. By the 1950s interest had shifted to studying the roles of individual amino acids in amino acid requirements by feeding studies with non-ruminants as rodents, poultry and pigs. The direct protein feeding approaches followed by measurements of nutritional outcomes were not possible however in ruminants (cattle and sheep). The development of measuring free amino acids by ion exchange chromatography enabled plasma amino acid analysis. It was thought that plasma amino acid profiles were useful in nutritional studies on proteins and amino acids. With non-ruminants, nutritional interpretations of plasma amino acid studies were possible. Unfortunately with beef cattle, protein/amino acid nutritional adequacy or requirements could not be routinely determined with plasma amino acid studies. In dairy cows, however, much valuable understanding was gained from amino acid studies. Concurrently, others studied amino acid transport in ruminant small intestines, the role of peptides in ruminant N metabolism, amino acid catabolism (in the animal) with emphasis on branched-chain amino acid catabolism. In addition, workable methodologies for studying protein turnover in ruminants were developed. By the 1990s, nutritionists could still not determine amino acid requirements with empirical experimental studies in beef cattle. Instead, computer software (expert systems) based on the accumulated knowledge in animal and ruminal amino acids, energy metabolism and protein production were realized and revised frequently. With these tools, the amino acid requirements, daily energy needs, ruminal and total gastrointestinal tract digestion and performance of growing beef cattle could be predicted.

The effect of abomasal infusion of casein on acetate, palmitate and glucose kinetics in cows during early lactation

1. Four mature Friesian cows were used in a Latin square design experiment to measure the effects of abomasal casein infusion on milk production and the kinetics of glucose, acetate and palmitate in jugular venous blood.

2. The basal ration contained 110 g crude protein/kg dry matter and was offered at the rate of 4 kg hay, 3 kg alkali-treated straw cubes plus 9 kg concentrates/d. Treatments were infusion of casein into the abomasum at the rate of 0, 240 or 460 g/d. The experiment started 1 week post partum. Experimental periods lasted 21 d.

3. [6-3H]glucose, [9, 10-3H]palmitate and [U-14C]acetate were continuously infused into one jugular vein for measurements of whole-body flux rates.

4. The yield of milk protein was increased significantly (P < 0.05) by the first increment of casein infusion, with no further increases.

5. Casein infusion had no effect on blood concentrations of glucose, acetate, palmitate or growth hormone. Mean flux rate of glucose increased with each increment of casein. The effect at 460 g/d was higher (P < 0.1) than with no infusion. Flux rates of palmitate and acetate were increased (P< 0.1) by the first increment of casein. The proportion of blood bicarbonate derived from acetate increased (P < 0.05) with the first increment of casein.

6. Protein status of cows early in lactation influences the dynamics of glucose and fatty acid metabolism.

Interconversions and production of volatile fatty acids in the sheep rumen

1. Sheep fed at a constant rate were infused intraruminally with [1-(14)C]-acetate, -propionate or -butyrate during 5hr. periods. 2. Volatile fatty acids were estimated in the rumen contents and steady-state conditions were obtained. 3. Of the butyric acid carbon 60% was in equilibrium with 20% of the acetic acid carbon, and 2-3g.atoms of carbon were interconverted/day. 4. Little interconversion took place between propionic acid, acetic acid or butyric acid. 5. The net production rates for acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid were 3.7, 1.0 and 0.7moles/day respectively. 6. The production of volatile fatty acids accounted for 80% of the animal's energy expenditure.

Pancreatic amylase, plasma glucose, and insulin responses to propionate or monensin in sheep

Yearling wethers fitted with reentrant bile-pancreatic duct cannulae were in a two-part study of effects of duodenal propionate infusions or increased ruminal propionate caused by dietary monensin on pancreatic alpha-amylase secretion and glucose and insulin in blood plasma. Continuous duodenal infusion of propionate increased concentrations of glucose and insulin in blood plasma of wethers fed alfalfa. Results supported a direct response of insulin secretion to propionate. Amylase secretion was not affected. Addition of monensin (22 ppm) to an 80% corn diet reduced the ratio of acetate:propionate in rumen, but bile-pancreatic flow and amylase activity were unaffected. Monensin supplementation had little influence on glucose and insulin in blood plasma. Pancreatic alpha-amylase secretion of ruminants seems to be a complex phenomenon that is not regulated strictly by fluctuations of glucose or insulin.

Acetate supply and utilization by the tissues of sheep in vivo

1. The supply and utilisation of acetate has been estimated simultaneously in the whole animal and tissues of sheep using a combination is isotope-dilution and arteriovenous-difference techniques. Animals were made alloxani-diabetic and acetate metabolism was compared when stabilized to normal metabolite levels with insulin (ITA sheep) and when food and insulin had been withdrawn for 36 h (fasted, diabetic sheep). 2. Acetate was simultaneously produced and utilized by all tissues. The exogenous (or gut) supply of acetate was the most important determinant of circulating acetate level. Endogenous acetate was produced mainly in the liver; 77 and 94% in fasted, diabetic and ITA sheep respectively. The production of endogenous acetate remained fairly constant and was not related to ketogenesis, which supports the idea that circulating acetate is largely a produce of fermentation. The liver, gut and muscle utilized 17, 25 and 54% respectively (96% total) of the acetate entry rate in ITA sheep; a similar percentage utilization was found in fasted, diabetic sheep. 3. Acetate is largely oxidized to carbon dioxide in the gut and muscles of sheep and may account for 30-40% of their oxidative metabolism. This figure is similar to that for the whole animal. The total acetate taken up by the liver could account for 30% of the oxygen consumption; however, the liver may not directly oxidize all the utilized acetate. 4. The over-all conclusion from this study is that acetate is largely of dietary origin and the major factor determining its rate of utilization is the arterial concentration.

Rates of entry and oxidation of acetate, glucose, D(-)-beta-hydroxybutyrate, palmitate, oleate and stearate, and rates of production and oxidation of propionate and butyrate in fed and starved sheep

1. Rates of entry and oxidation of a range of metabolites have been measured in tracheostomized sheep (diet, 800g. of lucerne chaff and 100g. of maize/day) by combining isotope-dilution techniques with the continuous measurement of total respiratory gas exchange, and (14)CO(2) production during the intravenous or intraruminal infusion of (14)C-labelled substrates. 2. Mean entry rates in fed and starved (24hr.) sheep respectively, expressed as mg./min./kg. body wt.(0.75), were: glucose, 5.0 (range 4.8-5.1, 2 observations) and 3.8 (3.2-4.2, 4); acetate, 10.8 (9.1-13.5, 4) and 5.8 (1); d(-)-beta-hydroxybutyrate, 1.4 (1) and 1.5 (0.8-2.4, 4); palmitate, oleate and stearate (starved sheep only) 1.0 (0.6-1.9, 7), 0.9 (0.2-1.6, 10) and 0.9 (0.5-1.1, 11) respectively. 3. Production rates of propionate and butyrate in continuously feeding sheep were 6.4 (4.7-8.3, 4) and 4.3 (3.4-6.1, 4) mg./min./kg.(0.75) respectively, and in starved (24hr.) sheep were 2.5 (2.2-2.9, 2) and 1.0 (0.8-1.2, 2) mg./min./kg.(0.75) respectively. 4. Calculated terminal values for the specific radioactivity of respiratory (14)CO(2) during measurements of entry rates and production rates were used to calculate the contributions of individual substrates to overall oxidative metabolism. Mean values for fed and starved sheep respectively were: glucose, 9.1 (8.6-9.6, 2) and 11.2 (5.9-15.1, 4)%; acetate, 31.6 (26.8-38.1, 4) and 22.1 (1)%; d(-)-beta-hydroxybutyrate, 10.4 (1) and 4.8 (1.9-7.7, 4)%; propionate, 23.0 (13.8-29.9, 4) and 7.1 (6.8-7.4, 2)%; butyrate, 16.5 (13.7-20.5, 4) and 5.3 (5.2-5.3, 2)%; palmitate, oleate and stearate (starved sheep only), 4.7 (2.0-7.7, 7), 4.0 (1.2-6.6, 10) and 4.4 (3.8-5.8, 9)% respectively. The sum of these values for individual substrates in fed and starved sheep, excluding that of beta-hydroxybutyrate and after correction of the glucose value for the known interrelations of this substrate with propionate, accounted for 76% and 58% respectively of total production of carbon dioxide. 5. Calculations based on the proportion of substrate entry directly oxidized indicated that the substrates studied accounted for 63% (fed sheep) and 43% (starved sheep) of total energy expenditure measured by oxygen uptake. The contribution of beta-hydroxybutyrate was excluded, and corrections were made for glucose-propionate interrelations, and for the different rates of oxidation of the methyl and carboxyl fragments of acetate. 6. The present results have been combined with those obtained earlier in this Laboratory to examine the relationships between rates of substrate entry and oxidation, and concentrations of substrate in blood. Rates of entry of acetate, glucose, d(-)-beta-hydroxybutyrate, palmitate and oleate (but not stearate) were well correlated with concentration in blood, and substrate contribution to production of carbon dioxide showed a similar correlation to blood concentration, except with glucose. 7. It was concluded that the general technique is of potential value in providing valid quantitative parameters of animal metabolism.