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Splanchnic metabolism of volatile fatty acids in the dairy cow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

N. B. Kristensen
N. B. Kristensen*
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
*
†E-mail: nbk@agrsci.dk
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Abstract

Volatile fatty acids (VFA) are quantitatively important substrates for dairy cows and other ruminants. It has been a central dogma in the nutritional physiology of ruminants that the ruminal epithelium metabolizes a large fraction of VFA during theirabsorption and consequently a relatively small fraction of VFA is available for peripheral tissues including the mammary gland. New data on splanchnic metabolism of VFA indicate that the ruminal epithelium metabolizes none or small amounts of acetate and propionate absorbed from the rumen. However, the ruminal epithelium has a large fractional uptake of butyrate and valerate during their absorption from the rumen. The liver takes up proportionately 0·9 or more of the absorbed propionate, however multiple factors are involved in regulation of hepatic metabolism and propionate does not determine glucose availability to the cow per se. In light of the quantitative importance of VFA to the dairy cow it is important that future research attempts to bridge the gap between the biology of food degradation/digestion in the gastro-intestinal tract and availability of specific nutrients to the cow which impact intermediary metabolism and nutrient utilizationin productive tissues.

Keywords

dairy cowslivermetabolismruminal epitheliumvolatile fatty acids
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , February 2005 , pp. 3 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2005

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