IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF NUTRIENT USE IN RUMINANTS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1014684
• Project Start Date: Nov 27, 2017
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2022
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
1310 BOLLEY DR
FARGO,ND 58105-5750

Performing Department
Animal Sciences

Non Technical Summary
Feed costs are a major component of overall production costs in cow/calf, growing, and finishing cattle systems. Improving theefficiency of feed utilization or using lower cost feeds, therefore, can have dramatic effects on profitability and sustainability ofthe beef industry. This research is aimed to improve the profitability of beef cattle production through improving efficiency ofproduction and/or reducing input costs. Improving efficiency also has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of beefproduction systems. These research objectives include both basic research to better understand physiological systemsimportant in regulating feed efficiency as well as studies to examine the effects of different nutritional or management programson performance in ruminants.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

50%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
302	3310	1010	100%

Knowledge Area
302 - Nutrient Utilization in Animals;

Subject Of Investigation
3310 - Beef cattle, live animal;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;

Keywords

cattle

sheep

feed efficiency

nutrition

Goals / Objectives
1) Evaluate variation in efficiency of nutrient utilization and examine approaches to improve feed efficiency, 2) Better define nutrient metabolism in visceral tissues as related to whole animal energy and protein efficiency, and 3) Assess alternative feeding programs to reduce feed costs in North Dakota and the Northern Great Plains.

Project Methods
Procedures: Objective 1) Evaluate variation in efficiency of nutrient utilization and examine approaches to improve feed efficiency. Nutritional or management treatments will be applied to growing or mature cattle or sheep and responses in feed efficiency will be monitored. Additionally, management approaches or feeding strategies will be developed in an attempt to improve feed efficiency. Cattle research will use either the Insentec feeding system, Calan gate feeding system, or fed individually to measure individual feed intake (Mader et al., 2009; Montanholi et al., 2010; Swanson et al., 2007; Wood et al., 2010; Wood et al., 2011). If sheep are used, individual intake will be monitored in individually-penned animals (Swanson et al., 2000a). Body weights will be taken at least every 28 days during the experimental periods. Dry matter intake, average daily gain, and gain:feed will be monitored. Additionally, alternative approaches of measuring feed efficiency will be examined (such as residual feed intake, residual average daily gain, or cow/calf efficiency). Feeding behavior and meat quality (where appropriate) traits also will be examined. Objective 2) Better define nutrient metabolism in visceral tissues as related to whole animal energetic efficiency. Tissue samples (visceral as well as muscle) will be collected to examine the effect of feeding or management treatments (such as altering nutrient composition or use of alternative feed ingredients) on tissue metabolism. In slaughter experiments, tissues will be collected and weighed, and tissues analyzed for expression of proteins regulating energy and protein metabolism (Na/K ATPase, ATP synthase, ubiquitin, mTOR, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, etc.) or for digestive enzyme activity (amylase, trypsin, etc.) as described previously (Mader et al., 2009; Swanson et al., 2008a; Swanson et al., 2008b; Swanson et al., 2008c; Wang et al., 2009a; Wang et al., 2009b; Wang et al., 2009c). Tissues also will be examined for morphological characteristics (cell size, cell type, subcellular characteristics, etc.) using histological techniques (Borowicz et al., 2008; Grazul-Bilska et al., 2011; Tanji and Bonilla, 2008). Exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function will also be assessed using immunohistochemistry and spectrophotometric approaches (Keomanivong et al., 2016). Objective 3) Assess alternative feeding programs to reduce feed costs. Alternative feed ingredients or supplements will be examined to determine the effects of dietary inclusion on animal performance. These feed ingredients or supplements will be based on the need of the industry, new potential byproducts available, or recent research on nutrients or ingredients such as amino acids, feed additives, etc. Besides examining effects on feed intake and efficiency (as described above), effects on feeding behavior also will be assessed (Montanholi et al., 2010). Measurements such as number of meals per day, feeding rate, or time of feeding will be examined. Other measurements such as activity (laying, standing, ruminating, etc.) and temperament also may be assessed.Statistical Analysis Data will be analyzed using the mixed procedure of SAS to determine the effect of treatment on feed efficiency traits and visceral metabolism. Also, relationships between feed efficiency traits and other potential physiological markers/factors contributing to differences in feed efficiency will be examined using correlation, MANOVA, and regression approaches to explore potential indicator traits for selection for feed efficiency and to advance our knowledge on the variation in and physiological factors influencing feed efficiency.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:This research is targeted to provide information to producers, industry personnel, and other scientists interested in beef cattle nutrition and physiology. This research is targeted to provide information to producers, industry personnel, and other scientists interested in beef cattle nutrition and physiology. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Three PhD students and 1 MS student have directly worked on the projects in the past year. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been reported at scientific meetings and to local producer groups. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Analyses will continue on ongoing experiments. Experiments have been developed on alternative feed sources and potential growth modifiers and are ongoing. Applications for grants will continue to fund research projects.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Graduate student were recruited to work on projects on 1) cow size and efficiency, 2) the use of hempseed cake on growth performance and nutrient balance in finishing cattle, and 3) the role of vasoactive intestinal peptide on growth and health in finishing lambs. Grant funding has also been received to work on collaborative projects with scientists from other universities on high moisture corn quality and on health indicators for receiving cattle. Additionally, we are in the process of procuring equipment and building an indirect calorimetry system for beef cattle to measure energy balance and greenhouse gas emissions. Analyses are currently being completed for our leucine supplementation projects in neonatal calves and lambs. Research results have suggested that heifers with a smaller frame size typically consume more feed relative to BW but wean a heavier calf relative to BW. A subset of these same heifers were tested as cows this past summer. Also, as heifers, an estimated body volume was more closely associated with efficiency measures than frame score or body weight. We are currently analyzing the data to determine if the same relationships holds true as mature cows. Also, additional statistical models will be developed to better characterize efficiency of production in the cow herd. The animal feeding portion of the experiment on feeding hempseed cake to finishing cattle is complete and intake/growth data is being summarized and laboratory analyses conducted. There were no visual complications in health or growth oftf the cattle fed hempseed cake. Research results also have indicated that leucine supplementation to lambs fed milk replacer increases average daily in lambs and does not detrimentally influence growth and efficiency post-weaning. In calves, leucine supplementation to lambs fed milk replacer resulted in no effects on growth, digestion, and nutrient balance but did influence concentrations of plasma amino acids. Immunoblot analyses of proteins regulating protein synthesis are currently being conducted.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bunma, T., Vasquez-Hidalgo, M. A, Swanson, K. C., Dorsam, S. T., Navanukraw, C., Vonnahme, K. A., Grazul-Bilska, A. 2020. Nuclear and membrane progesterone receptors (PGR) expression in placenta from early to late pregnancy in sheep: Effects of restricted nutrition and re-alimentation. Theriogenology 148:95-102. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2020.02.04.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Harmon, D. L., Swanson, K. C. 2020. Review: Nutritional regulation of intestinal starch and protein assimilation in ruminants. Animal 14(S1): s17-s28. doi:10.1017/S1751731119003136. (Invited).
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hoyle, A. S., Menezes, A. C. B., Siomka, A. M., Young, J. M., Swanson, K. C., Berg, E. P., Vonnahme, K. A., Ward, A. K. 2020. Fetal expression of genes related to metabolic function is impacted by supplementation of ground beef and sucrose during gestation in a swine model. J. Anim. Sci. 98:skaa232. doi:10.1093/jas/skaa232.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Knutson, E. E., Menezes, A. C. B., Sun, X., Fontoura, A. B. P., Liu, J. H., Bauer, M. L., Maddock Carlin, K. R., Swanson, K. C., Ward, A. K. 2020. Effect of feeding a low vitamin A diet on carcass and production characteristics of steers with a high or low propensity for marbling. Animal 11:2308-2314. doi:10.1017/S1751731120001135.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Trotta, R. J., Keomanivong, F. E., Peine, J. L., Caton, J. S., Swanson, K. C. 2020. Effects of maternal nutrient restriction and rumen-protected arginine supplementation on post-ruminal digestive enzyme activity of lamb offspring. Livest. Sci. 241:104246. doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2020.104246.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Trotta, R. J., Sitorski, L. G., Acharya, S., Brake, D. W., Swanson, K. C. 2020. Duodenal infusions of starch with casein or glutamic acid influence pancreatic and small intestinal carbohydrase activity in cattle. J. Nutr. 150:784-791. doi:10.1093/jn/nxz319.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Trotta, R. J., Swanson, K. C. 2020. Effects of dietary supplement source on rate and extent of in vitro ruminal degradation from alfalfa-based diets for cattle. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 100:244-252. doi:10.1139/cjas-2019-0105.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Trotta, R. J., Vasquez-Hidalgo, M. A., Vonnahme, K. A., Swanson, K. C. 2020. Effects of nutrient restriction during mid- to late-gestation on maternal and fetal post-ruminal carbohydrase activities in sheep. J. Anim. Sci. 98:skz393. doi:10.1093/jas/skz393.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Trotta, R. J., Ward, A. K., Swanson, K. C. 2020. Influence of dietary fructose on visceral organ mass, carbohydrase activity, and mRNA expression of genes involved in small intestinal carbohydrate assimilation in neonatal calves. J. Dairy Sci. 103:10060-10073. doi:10.3168/jds.2020-18145.

Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:This research is targeted to provide information to producers, industry personnel, and other scientists interested in beef cattle nutrition and physiology. This research is targeted to provide information to producers, industry personnel, and other scientists interested in beef cattle nutrition and physiology. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One PhD student, 1 MS students, and 2 undergraduate students have directly worked on these projects in the past year. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been reported at national and international scientific meetings and to local producer groups. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Analyses will continue on the leucine studies described above. Also, a project on the effects of frame size and body dimensions on efficiency of feed utilization in cows will be conducted and compared previously measured results when the cows were heifers. Grants are pending on examining the effects of post-ruminal caseinor glutamate on global mRNA expression and on maternal nutrient restriction on nutrient flux to the fetus in ewes.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Research projects were conducted to 1) determine the effect of ractopamine supplementation to finishing steers on feeding behavior and pancreatic function, 2) determine the effects of leucine supplementation to neonatal calves and lambs on growth and development, 3) determine the effects of fructose supplementation to neonal calves on digestive enzyme activity, 4) determine the effects of post-ruminal amino acids on pancreatic and intestinal digestive enzymes, 5) determine the effects of maternal nutrition in ewes and fetuses on pancreatic digestive enzymes, 6) determine the effects of maternal nutrient restriction and rumen-protected arginine supplementation to ewes on offspring post-ruminal digestive enzyme activity, and 7) the effects of supplementation for alfalfa-based diets on in-vitro ruminal digestion. Results indicate that 1) ractopamine supplementation increases eating rate in finishing steers, 2) leucine supplementation increases average daily gain of neonatal lambs but not calves but indicators of protein metabolism indicate potenential increases in skeletal muscle growth, 3) fructose supplemenation influenced intestinal but not pancreatic carbohydrase activity and decreased plasma glucose concentrattions, 4) Post-ruminal casein increased pancreatic amylase activity and both post-ruminal casein and glutamate influenced intestinal carbohydrase activity, 5) analyses are ongoing to examine how maternal nutrition influences maternal and fetal digestive enzymes in sheep, 6) maternal nutrient restriction influenced activity of some post-ruminal digestive enzymes in lambs but supplementation of rumen-protected arginine did not influence post-ruminal enzyme activity, and 7) inclusion of soybean hulls to alfalfa-based diets decreased inititial rate of digestion and increased extent of digestion suugesting in may be useful in decreasing the incidence of legume frothy bloat and increasing digestibility for cattle grazing alfalfa-based pastures.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Trotta, R. J., and K. C. Swanson. 2019. Effects of dietary supplement source on rate and extent of in vitro ruminal degradation from alfalfa-based diets for cattle. Can. J. Anim. Sci. doi:10.1139/CJAS-2019-0105
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sitorski, L. G., M. L. Bauer, and K. C. Swanson. 2019. Effect of metabolizable protein intake on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and feeding behavior in finishing behavior. Transl. Anim. Sci. 3:1173-1181.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kennedy, V. C., J. J. Gaspers, B. R. Mordhorst, G. L. Stokka, K. C. Swanson, M. L. Bauer, and K. A. Vonnahme. 2019. Late gestation supplementation of corn dried distillers grains plus solubles to beef cows fed a low-quality forage: III. Effects on mammary gland blood flow, colostrum and milk production, and calf body weights. J. Anim. Sci. 97:3337-3347.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Trotta, R. J., K. R. Maddock-Carlin, and K. C. Swanson. 2019. Effects of ractopamine hydrochloride supplementation on feeding behavior, growth performance, and carcass characteristics of finishing steers. Transl. Anim. Sci. 3:1133-1142.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Trotta, R. J., M. A. Vasquez-Hidalgo, K. A. Vonnahme, and K. C. Swanson. 2019. Effects of nutrient restriction during mid- to late-gestation on maternal and fetal post-ruminal carbohydrase activities in sheep. J. Anim. Sci. (accepted)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Trotta, R. J., L. G. Sitorski, S. Acharya, D. W. Brake, and K. C. Swanson. 2019. Duodenal infusions of starch with casein or glutamic acid influence pancreatic and small intestinal carbohydrase activity in cattle. J. Nutr. doi:10.1093/jn/nxz319
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Harmon, D. L., and K. C. Swanson. 2019. Nutritional regulation of intestinal starch and protein assimilation in ruminants. Animal (accepted)

Progress 11/27/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:This research is targeted to provide information to producers, industry personnel, and other scientists interested in beef cattle nutrition and physiology. This research is targeted to provide information to producers, industry personnel, and other scientists interested in beef cattle nutrition and physiology. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One PhD student, 2 MS students, and 3 undergraduate students have directly worked on these projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been reported at national and international scientific meetings and to local producer groups. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Analyses will continue on the studies described above. Also, projects on 1) the effects of supplementation on alfalfa utilization in vitro, 2) the effects of fructose supplementation on mRNA expression of genes regulating carbohydrate metabolism, and 3) the effects of leucine supplementation on protein metabolism will be conducted.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Research projects were conducted to 1) study the relationship between frame size, body measurements, feeding behavior, and blood metabollites with productive traits and feed efficiency in heifers, 2) determine the effect of ractopamine supplementation to finishing steers on feeding behavior and pancreatic function, 3) determine the effects of leucine supplementation to neonatal calves and lambs on growth and development, 4) determine the effects of fructose supplementation to neonal calves on digestive enzyme activity, 5) determine the effects of post-ruminal amino acids on pancreatic and intestinal digestive enzymes, and 6) determine the effects of maternal nutrition in ewes and fetuses on pancreatic digestive enzymes. Preliminary results indicate that 1) increasing heifer size improves feed efficiency for growth but reduces the percentage of first calf weaned, 2) ractopamine supplementation increases eating rate in finishing steers, 3) leucine supplementation increases average daily gain of neonatal lambs but not calves, 4) fructose supplemenation influenced intestinal but not pancreatic carbohydrase activity, 5) Post-ruminal casein increased pancreatic amylase activity and both post-ruminal casein and glutamate influenced intestinal carbohydrase activity, and 6) analyses are ongoing to examine how maternal nutrition influences maternal and fetal digestive enzymes in sheep.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sarker, N. C., F. Keomanivong, M. Borhan, S. Rahman, and K. Swanson. 2018. In vitro evaluation of nano zinc oxide (nZnO) on mitigation of gaseous emissions. J. Anim. Sci. Tech. 60:27.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ladeira, M. M., J. P. Schoonmaker, K. C. Swanson, S. K. Duckett. 2018. Review: Nutrigenomics of marbling and fatty acid profile in ruminant meat. Animal. 12(suppl. s2):s282-2294.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: Keomanivong, F. E., M. C. Ruch, M. A. Rodenhuis, M. S. Crouse, J. D. Kirsch, M. L. Bauer, M. S. Borhan, S. Rahman, and K. C. Swanson. 2018. Influence of grain source and dried distillers grain with solubles oil concentration on rumen pH, ammonia and volatile fatty acid concentration, in vitro methane and carbon dioxide production and enzyme activity. Can. J. Anim. Sci.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Prezotto, L. D., J. F. Thorson, P. P. Borowicz, J. L. Peine, M. Bedenbaugh, S. M. Hileman, C. A. Lents, J. S. Caton, and K. C. Swanson. 2018. Influences of maternal nutrient restriction and arginine supplementation on visceral metabolism and hypothalamic circuitry of offspring. Dom. Anim. Endocrin. 65:71-79.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Swanson, K. C., J. J. Gaspers, F. A. Keomanivong, T. C. Gilbery, G. P. Lardy, M. L. Bauer, and G. L. Stokka. 2018. Influence of feeding direct-fed microbial supplementation on growth performance and feeding behavior in naturally- and conventionally-fed finishing cattle with different dietary adaptation periods. J. Anim. Sci. 96:3370-3380.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Camacho, E., K. C. Swanson, Dorsam, S., and K. A. Vonnahme. 2018. Effects of maternal nutrient restriction followed by realimentation during early and mid-gestation in beef cows. II. Placental development, umbilical blood flow, and uterine blood flow responses to diet alterations. Theriogenology. 116:1  11.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Crane, A. R., R. R. Redden, M. S. Crouse, J. D. Kirsch, P. P. Borowicz, J. E. Held, K. C. Swanson, and C. S. Schauer. 2018. Influence of distillers dried grains with solubles on ram lamb growth and reproductive traits. J. Anim. Sci. 96:14841494.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rodenhuis, M. A., F. E. Keomanivong, M. L. Bauer, and K. C. Swanson. 2018. Effect of grain type and distillers grains with solubles oil concentration on site of digestion. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 98:368375.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Brake, D. W., and K. C. Swanson. 2018. RUMINANT NUTRITION SYMPOSIUM: Effects of postruminal flows of protein and amino acids on small intestinal starch digestion in cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 96:739-750.