Use of stable isotopes to measurede novosynthesis and turnover of amino acid-C and -N in mixed micro-organisms from the sheep rumenin vitro

Protein synthesis and turnover in ruminal micro-organisms were assessed by stable-isotope methods in order to follow independently the fate of amino acid (AA)-C and -N in different AA. Rumen fluid taken from sheep receiving a grass hay–concentrate diet were strained and incubatedin vitrowith starch–cellobiose–xylose in the presence of NH3and 5 g algal protein hydrolysate (APH)/l, in incubations where the labels were15NH3, [15N]APH or [13C]APH. Total15N incorporation was calculated from separate incubations with15NH3and [15N]APH, and net N synthesis from the increase in AA in protein-bound material. The large difference between total and net AA synthesis indicated that substantial turnover of microbial protein occurred, averaging 3·5 %/h. Soluble AA-N was incorporated on average more extensively than soluble AA-C (70v.50 % respectively,P=0·001); however, incorporation of individual AA varied. Ninety percent of phenylalanine-C was derived from the C-skeleton of soluble AA, whereas the incorporation of phenylalanine-N was 72 %. In contrast, only 15 % aspartate-C + asparagine-C was incorporated, while 45 % aspartate-N+asparagine-N was incorporated. Deconvolution analysis of mass spectra indicated substantial exchange of carboxyl groups in several AA before incorporation and a condensation of unidentified C2and C4intermediates during isoleucine metabolism. The present results demonstrate that differential labelling with stable isotopes is a way in which fluxes of AA synthesis and degradation, their biosynthetic routes, and separate fates of AA-C and -N can be determined in a mixed microbial population.

Assessment of amino acid requirements for optimum fermentation of xylan by mixed micro-organisms from the sheep rumen

A deletion approach was undertaken to identify which amino acids (AA) most limited the growth of mixed ruminal microorganisms on xylan. Ruminal fluid was withdrawn from sheep receiving a mixed grass hay/concentrate diet and incubated for 24 h with oat spelts xylan in the presence or absence of a mixture of 20 AA or the same mixture with a single AA deleted. Gas and volatile fatty acid production were increased by the AA mixture in comparison with incubations in which ammonia was the only added nitrogen (N) source, and the deletion of each of the aromatic AA, tyrosine, phenylalanine and tryptophan, as well as leucine and methionine, led to decreases (P< 0·05) in fermentation rate. The addition of aromatic AA as a mixture to ammonia-only fermentations increased (P< 0·05) the fermentation rate but failed to replicate the benefits of the complete mixture of AA. Although the addition of all 20 AA increased (P< 0·05) the microbial yield by up to 0·56, no single AA deletion had a significant (P> 0·05) influence on microbial yield, and the aromatic AA mixture also did not increase the microbial yield on xylan over the yield with ammonia as sole N source. It was concluded that aromatic AA may be first-limiting for xylan fermentation, but they cannot replace the benefits of a complete mixture of 20 AA in stimulating xylan fermentation by ruminal micro-organisms.

Effects of Three Different Lighting Programs on Live Weight Change of Bronze Turkeys under Semi-Intensive Conditions

Abstract. A study was conducted to evaluate the influence of three lighting programs (23L: 1D), (18L: 6D), and (12L: 12D) on live weight changes of American Bronze turkeys by Profile analysis technique. The F-statistics and Wilk’s Lamba statistics for testing group-response interaction or similar profiles suggested that there was a significant interaction effect (p<0.01). The effects of the three lighting programs on live weight gain appeared to be different throughout the study except for the last 6 weeks. On the other hand, the results of the present study suggested that the effect of the three lighting programs on live weight gain followed a similar trend or three lighting programs had similar physiological effect on live weight gain from 10th week on wards.

Incorporation of [(15)N] ammonia by the cellulolytic ruminal bacteria Fibrobacter succinogenes BL2, Ruminococcus albus SY3, and Ruminococcus flavefaciens 17

The origin of cell nitrogen and amino acid nitrogen during growth of ruminal cellulolytic bacteria in different growth media was investigated by using (15)NH(3). At high concentrations of peptides (Trypticase, 10 g/liter) and amino acids (15.5 g/liter), significant amounts of cell nitrogen of Fibrobacter succinogenes BL2 (51%), Ruminococcus flavefaciens 17 (43%), and Ruminococcus albus SY3 (46%) were derived from non-NH(3)-N. With peptides at 1 g/liter, a mean of 80% of cell nitrogen was from NH(3). More cell nitrogen was formed from NH(3) during growth on cellobiose compared with growth on cellulose in all media. Phenylalanine was essential for F. succinogenes, and its (15)N enrichment declined more than that of other amino acids in all species when amino acids were added to the medium.

Influence of peptides and amino acids on fermentation rate and de novo synthesis of amino acids by mixed micro-organisms from the sheep rumen

The influence of different N sources on fermentation rate and de novo amino acid synthesis by rumen micro-organisms was investigated in vitro using rumen fluid taken from four sheep receiving a mixed diet comprising (g/kg DM): grass hay 500, barley 299.5, molasses 100, fish meal 91, minerals and vitamins 9.5. Pancreatic casein hydrolysate (P; comprising mainly peptides with some free amino acids; 10 g/l), free amino acids (AA; casein acid hydrolysate + added cysteine and tryptophan; 10 g/l), or a mixture of L-proline, glycine, L-valine and L-threonine (M; 0.83 g/l each) were added to diluted (1:3, v/v), strained rumen fluid along with 15NH4Cl (A; 1.33 g/l) and 6.7 g/l of a mixture of starch, cellobiose and xylose (1:1:1, by weight). P and AA, but not M, stimulated net gas production after 4 and 8 h incubation (P < 0.05) in comparison with A alone. P increased microbial-protein synthesis (P < 0.05) compared with the other treatments. All of the microbial-N formed after 10 h was synthesized de novo from 15NH3 in treatment A, and the addition of pre-formed amino acids decreased the proportion to 0.37, 0.55, and 0.86 for P, AA, and M respectively. De novo synthesis of amino acids (0.29, 0.42 and 0.69 respectively) was lower than cell-N. Enrichment of alanine, glutamate and aspartate was slightly higher than that of other amino acids, while enrichment in proline was much lower, such that 0.83-0.95 of all proline incorporated into particulate matter was derived from pre-formed proline. Glycine, methionine, lysine, valine and threonine tended to be less enriched than other amino acids. The form in which the amino acids were supplied, as P or AA, had little influence on the pattern of de novo synthesis. When the concentration of peptides was decreased, the proportion of microbial-N formed from NH3 increased, so that at an initial concentration of 1 g peptides/l, similar to the highest reported ruminal peptide concentrations, 0.68 of cell-N was formed from NH3. Decreasing the NH3 concentration at 1.0 g peptides/l caused proportionate decreases in the fraction of cell-N derived from NH3, from 0.81 at 0.53 g NH3-N/l to 0.40 at 0.19 g NH3-N/l. It was concluded that different individual amino acids are synthesized de novo to different extents by mixed rumen micro-organisms when pre-formed amino acids are present, and that the source of N used for synthesis of cell-N and amino acids depends on the respective concentrations of the different N sources available; however, supplementing only with amino acids whose synthesis is lowest when pre-formed amino acids are present does not stimulate fermentation or microbial growth.

De novo synthesis of amino acids by the ruminal bacteria Prevotella bryantii B14, Selenomonas ruminantium HD4, and Streptococcus bovis ES1

The influence of peptides and amino acids on ammonia assimilation and de novo synthesis of amino acids by three predominant noncellulolytic species of ruminal bacteria, Prevotella bryantii B14, Selenomonas ruminantium HD4, and Streptococcus bovis ES1, was determined by growing these bacteria in media containing 15NH4Cl and various additions of pancreatic hydrolysates of casein (peptides) or amino acids. The proportion of cell N and amino acids formed de novo decreased as the concentration of peptides increased. At high concentrations of peptides (10 and 30 g/liter), the incorporation of ammonia accounted for less than 0.16 of bacterial amino acid N and less than 0.30 of total N. At 1 g/liter, which is more similar to peptide concentrations found in the rumen, 0.68, 0.87, and 0.46 of bacterial amino acid N and 0.83, 0.89, and 0.64 of total N were derived from ammonia by P. bryantii, S. ruminantium, and S. bovis, respectively. Concentration-dependent responses were also obtained with amino acids. No individual amino acid was exhausted in any incubation medium. For cultures of P. bryantii, peptides were incorporated and stimulated growth more effectively than amino acids, while cultures of the other species showed no preference for peptides or amino acids. Apparent growth yields increased by between 8 and 57%, depending on the species, when 1 g of peptides or amino acids per liter was added to the medium. Proline synthesis was greatly decreased when peptides or amino acids were added to the medium, while glutamate and aspartate were enriched to a greater extent than other amino acids under all conditions. Thus, the proportion of bacterial protein formed de novo in noncellulolytic ruminal bacteria varies according to species and the form and identity of the amino acid and in a concentration-dependent manner.