Availability to pigs of amino acids in cereal grains. 3. A comparison of ileal availability values with faecal, chemical and enzymic estimates

Alternative prediction methods of protein and energy evaluation of pig feeds

Precise knowledge of the actual nutritional value of individual feedstuffs and complete diets for pigs is important for efficient livestock production. Methods of assessment of protein and energy values in pig feeds have been briefly described. In vivo determination of protein and energy values of feeds in pigs are time-consuming, expensive and very often require the use of surgically-modified animals. There is a need for more simple, rapid, inexpensive and reproducible methods for routine feed evaluation. Protein and energy values of pig feeds can be estimated using the following alternative methods: 1) prediction equations based on chemical composition; 2) animal models as rats, cockerels and growing pigs for adult animals; 3) rapid methods, such as the mobile nylon bag technique and in vitro methods. Alternative methods developed for predicting the total tract and ileal digestibility of nutrients including amino acids in feedstuffs and diets for pigs have been reviewed. This article focuses on two in vitro methods that can be used for the routine evaluation of amino acid ileal digestibility and energy value of pig feeds and on factors affecting digestibility determined in vivo in pigs and by alternative methods. Validation of alternative methods has been carried out by comparing the results obtained using these methods with those acquired in vivo in pigs. In conclusion, energy and protein values of pig feeds may be estimated with satisfactory precision in rats and by the two- or three-step in vitro methods providing equations for the calculation of standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids and metabolizable energy content. The use of alternative methods of feed evaluation is an important way for reduction of stressful animal experiments.

Development of a novel bioassay for determining the available lysine contents of foods and feedstuffs

Lysine is an important indispensable amino acid, and describing the lysine content of a food or feedstuff provides useful information about nutritional value. However, when a food or feedstuff is subjected to heating the lysine present can be altered to nutritionally unavailable derivatives. These derivatives can revert back to lysine during the acid hydrolysis step used in amino acid analysis causing an overestimate of the lysine content. There have been many chemical methods developed to determine the reactive (unmodified) lysine content of foods and feedstuffs, but these do not take into account the incomplete absorption of lysine from the small intestine. There are also a number of animal-based assays for determining available lysine (the lysine that can be absorbed in a form that can be used for protein synthesis). The true ileal amino acid digestibility assay is commonly used to determine amino acid availability and is accurate for application to unprocessed foods and feedstuffs but is not accurate for lysine and possibly other amino acids when applied to heat-processed foods or feedstuffs. For such protein sources, assays such as the slope-ratio assay, indicator amino acid oxidation assay and the BIOLYSINE™ assay (true ileal digestible reactive lysine assay) have been developed to determine available lysine. The present paper discusses the efficacy of the BIOLYSINE™ assay as well as other assays for determining available lysine in processed foods and feedstuffs.

[Relations between apparent fecal and apparent ileal crude protein digestibility in swine]

The crude protein and lysine digestibility values available in literature and ascertained in comparative investigations at the end of the small intestine (distal ileum) and in the complete digestive tract (faeces analysis method) of pigs were subjected to a correlation calculation in order to find out whether and to what degree there are relations between apparent 'ileal' and apparent 'faecal' digestibility. For both crude protein and lysine the relation between ileal and faecal digestibility is so close (r = 0.73 resp. 0.85 ... 0.98) so that for practical purposes it is not necessary to determine the apparent ileal digestibility for each feedstuff by means of the complicated cannula method. This can be calculated with great reliability from the experimentally ascertained apparent faecal digestibility. The differences between faecal and ileal digestibility are smaller for lysine (conversion factors 0.92 ... 0.99) than for crude protein (conversion factors 0.89 ... 0.93).

[Determination of amino acid balance in the gastrointestinal tract of chickens]

11 different feedstuffs (barley, wheat, rye, oat, wheat bran, soybean meal, peanut meal, cottonseed meal, rapeseed meal, horse bean, fish meal) were tested with adult colostomized broiler hens in digestion experiments; the digestibility of the crude protein and the amino acid (AA) balance of the gastro-intestinal tract were ascertained. The results achieved can be summarised as follows: The AA-composition in faecal protein is relatively independent of the AA-composition of the feedstuffs, it is not constant, however. The NPN-quota in faecal crude protein rises with the increasing crude fibre content in the feed. AA-digestibility calculated from the balance of the gastro-intestinal tract is, with the exception of some AA, in particularly the limiting ones, higher than the digestibility of the crude protein. As the AA-balance of the gastro-intestinal tract does not give a realistic picture of the digestibility of the AA, we recommend to ascertain the AA-balance up to the end of the small intestines in order to gain more profound knowledge with the help of such basic investigations with selected feedstuffs.

Availability to pigs of amino acids in cereal grains. 4. Factors influencing the availability of amino acids and energy in grains

1. Protein digestibility and lysine availability were determined in a range of grain samples using an in vivo digestibility assay calibrated with ileal digestibility values. 2. Mean (+/- SE) values predicted for nitrogen digestibility were 0.92 +/- 0.011 in wheat and 0.88 +/- 0.021 in barely, and the predicted lysine availability in wheat was 0.86 +/- 0.021. 3. Chemical and physical characteristics of the grains were determined and those most closely associated with protein digestibility for wheat were the contents of hemicellulose, neutral-detergent fibre, the bulk density, and to a lesser extent, N and acid-detergent fibre content. These relationships were used to determine prediction equations for the availability lysine content of wheat.