Abstract
Calf milk replacers commonly contain 40-50% lactose. For economic reasons, starch is of interest as a lactose replacer. Small intestinal disappearance of starch (66%) was lower than that of glucose (85%) when infused in the abomasum of steers (Kreikemeier and Harmon, 1995), indicating that enzyme activity required for the hydrolysis of starch to glucose limits starch digestion. Which enzyme system is limiting starch digestion in milk-fed calves is unknown. Portal glucose appearance was only 57% of small intestinal starch disappearance (Kreikemeier and Harmon, 1995). This gap includes starch fermentation and glucose use by portal drained visceral tissues. In steers, abomasal infusion of a starch hydrolysate resulted in a linear decrease in ileal pH (Branco et al., 1999), illustrating that fermentation may be an important contributor to small intestinal starch disappearance.
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References
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© 2013 Wageningen Academic Publishers The Netherlands
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Gilbert, M.S., Pantophlet, A.J., van den Borne, J.J.G.C., Schols, H.A., Gerrits, W.J.J. (2013). Small intestinal fermentation contributes substantially to starch disappearance in milk-fed calves. In: Oltjen, J.W., Kebreab, E., Lapierre, H. (eds) Energy and protein metabolism and nutrition in sustainable animal production. Energy and protein metabolism and nutrition in sustainable animal production, vol 134. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-781-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-781-3_4
Publisher Name: Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen
Online ISBN: 978-90-8686-781-3
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