[Investigations of the metabolism of colostomised laying hens with 15N-labelled wheat. 5. Incorporation and distribution of 15N in the contents of the intestinal tract, the tissue of stomachs and the segments of the intestines]

[Dynamics of amino acid and protein metabolism of laying hens after administration of 15N-labeled wheat protein. 6. 15N incorporation into the contents and tissue of segments of the gastrointestinal tract and into the pancreas]

12 colostomized laying hens received, together with a conventional feed ration, 15N labelled wheat with a 15N excess (15N') of 14.37 atom-% over 4 days. 3 animals each were butchered after 12 h, 36 h, 60 h and 108 h after the last 15N' application and, apart from various organs, the contents and the tissue of the gastro-intestinal tract of each hen was divided into 3 fractions. TCA precipitation was carried out with the contents and the tissue of the 3 fractions. Nitrogen and its atom-% 15N' were determined in the supernatant and the precipitate. The 15N' amount in the contents of the crop and the stomachs, the small and large intestines is still considerable 12 h after the last 15N wheat feeding and still clearly detectable 108 h after it. The TCA precipitable amounts of 14N and 15N' of the contents of crop and stomach and that of the small intestine agree well; they are 75% and 50% resp. of the total N. The amount of atom-% 15N' of the contents of the small and large intestines remains the same up to 36 h after the last 15N' application and is higher at the following measuring points in the contents of the large intestine. A close correlation could be ascertained between the atom-% 15N' in the contents and tissue of the small and large intestines. The TCA soluble N quotas of both 14N and 15N' in the pancreas are higher than 50%.

[Utilization of N15-labelled urea in the laying hen. 5. N15-labelling of the content and tissue of separate parts of the gastrointestinal tract]

In the series of experiments with labelled urea three colostomized laying hybrids were butchered after a six-day application of 1% urea with 96.06 atom-% 15N excess (15N') in the ration and another 2 days with a supplement of 1% unlabelled urea. Out of the individual samples from crop, gizzard, small intestine, caecum and rectum, the content of the small intestine and the caecum showed the highest labelling with greater than 1 atom-% 15N'. The TCA soluble fraction of the content of the gizzard was more highly and that of the intestines less labelled than the total nitrogen. The tissue of the gizzard is distinctly less labelled than the "omasum system" and the small intestine. The atom-% 15N' of the oesophagus with crop and glandular stomach largely showed agreement in the individual hens with that of intestinal tissue and ranged between 0.71 and 0.89 atom-%. 2% of the 15N' supplemented with the urea could be recovered in the content and the tissue of the gastro-intestinal tract.

[Studies of 15N-labeled lysine in colostomized laying hens. 6. 15N incorporation into basic amino acids of the liver, kidney, meat, bones and remaining body as well as 15N balance]

Three colostomised laying hybrids received 91.40 mg L-lysine-15N-excess (15N') each over a period of four days in a metabolism experiment with 15N-labelled lysine. After another four days, during which the hens received the same rations supplemented by commercial L-lysine, the animals were butchered and divided into individual fractions. After the hydrochloric hydrolysis of the organs and tissues the heavy nitrogen of lysine, histidine and arginine were separated, quantitatively evaluated, processed and measured with an emission spectrometer. Atom-% 15N' on an average amounted to 0.20 in the liver, 0.16 in the kidneys, 0.06 in the meat and 0.05 in the bones. Of the rediscovered 15N' applied, faeces contained 8.1%, urine 18.3%, the eggs 24.3%, the blood 4.9%, the meat 20.5%, the bones 5.2%, the gastro-intestinal tract with its contents 4.5%, the liver 3.5%, the kidneys 0.9%, the reproductive organs 3.7% and the rest 6.1%. The quota of rediscovery of the 15N' applied was 95.7%. 62% of the total 15N' was rediscovered in eggs, body and faeces as lysine 15N'. There was significantly more 15N' in the arginine in all fractions than in the histidine. The quota of the lysine-15N' of the total 15N' differed considerably in the fractions: less than 40% bones and blood; 48...56% gastro-intestinal tract, faeces, oviduct, kidneys; 62...63% remaining ovary, rest; 69...71% eggs, meat, liver. It could be proved that the alpha-amino group of lysine is to a large extent incorporated into other amino acids. Further proof that the amino acid metabolism proceeds in two phases was submitted, i.e. hight amounts of amino acids previously deposited in the body are used for egg synthesis.

[15N-labeled lysine in colostomized laying hens. 5. 15N incorporation into blood fractions and the gastrointestinal tract]

In the metabolism experiment three colostomized laying hens received, together with a commercial ration of 120 g, 0,2% 15N-labelled L-lysine with an atom-% 15N-excess (15N') of 48%; subsequently the same ration was fed over a period of 4 days with 0.2% unlabelled L-lysine. After the end of the experiment the hens were slaughtered. The atom-% 15N' was determined in total, in the lysine, histidine and arginine N in the corpuscles, the plasma, the NPN-fraction of the blood in the stomachs, the small intestine, the caecum and the rectum. 15N' in the corpuscles was 0.11 atom-%, in the blood plasma 0.17 atom-%, in the NPN-fraction of the blood 0.09 atom-%, in the tissue of the gastro-intestinal tract 0.11 atom-% and in its contents 0,12 atom-%. On average the blood contained per hen 77.9% lysine-15N', 16.4% arginine-15N' and 5.7% histidine-15N' of the basic amino acid-15N'. For the gastro-intestinal tract 78.7% lysine-15N', 19.0% arginine-15N' and 2.3% histidine-15N' of the 15N' of the basic amino acids were ascertained. In comparison to histidine the alpha-amino-N of lysine is incorporated to a considerably higher degree into arginine. For lysine and arginine the atom-% 15N' in the contents of the gastro-intestinal tract for days after the end of the supplementation of labelled lysine is between 8 and 10 times higher than in the feces of the last day of the experiment. This indicates a considerable secretion of the two amino acids in the gastro-intestinal tract and their re-absorption to a large extent.