Dietary nitrogen utilisation and prediction of amino acid requirements in equids

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 2057
Author(s):  
Nathalie L. Trottier ◽  
Luis O. Tedeschi

The equine population represents an important sector of animal agriculture and, thus, contributes to environmental contamination. The horse industry lags behind other livestock industries in developing prediction models to estimate N and amino acid (AA) requirements aimed at precision feeding and management to optimise animal health and performance while mitigating nutrient excretion. Effective predictions of N utilisation and excretion are based on knowledge of ingredient protein quality and the determinants of N and AA requirements. Protein quality is evaluated on the basis of N and AA digestibility and AA composition. Amino acid composition of grains, pulses and oil seeds is extensive, but there is large deficit on that of forages. Several studies have reported on pre- and post-caecal N digestibility in horses, demonstrating that a large proportion of N from forages is metabolised post-caecally. Few have reported on AA digestibility. It is proposed that whole-tract (i.e. faecal) N and AA digestibility be used in evaluating feed-ingredient protein quality in equids to begin designing predictive models of N and AA requirements. Nitrogen gain and AA composition in deposited tissues and their corresponding efficiency of utilisation are the key determinants for a prediction model. We estimated that N utilisation for maintenance is 0.74. Maintenance requirements for N and AA were derived from faecal N and AA losses in horses and expressed as a function of dry-matter intake and from integument losses in swine. Relative to our factorial model, the NRC (2007) requirement for lysine and N is overestimated when based on a segmented curve and a breakpoint. When based on N equilibrium, lysine NRC (2007) requirement estimate agrees with our factorial model estimate, while N requirement is underestimated. The pool of AA profile used to express requirements of other essential AA has a large impact on requirement, as shown, in particular, for threonine. Threonine requirement based on faecal endogenous AA profile is higher than is lysine requirement for maintenance and lactation.

2005 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 874-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J Moughan

Abstract The first objective in evaluating protein quality is to permit a ranking of proteins according to their potential nutritive value and to permit detection of changes in nutritive value due to processing and/or storage. The second objective is to permit prediction of the contribution a food protein, or mixture of food proteins, makes toward meeting nitrogen and amino acid requirements for growth or maintenance. Different approaches are used in meeting these distinct aims. The preferred current method to meet the second aim is the protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS). This article introduces the concept of PDCAAS and places it in the context of the series of papers published in this Special Guest Editor Section addressing aspects of dietary amino acid utilization.


1959 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 1351-1360 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. G. Rogers ◽  
J. M. McLaughlan ◽  
D. G. Chapman

Bacteriological methods for the determination of protein quality were evaluated by comparison with protein efficiency ratio (P.E.R.) values determined by a standardized rat growth assay. Enzyme or acid hydrolyzates of foods were used as the source of amino acids with hydrolyzed whole egg powder as the reference standard. With Streptococcus faecalis A.T.C.C. 9790 autolysis occurred in media containing hydrolyzates of proteins deficient in lysine, and was largely responsible for results which did not agree with P.E.R. values. In methods employing Leuconostoc mesenteroides P-60 A.T.C.C. 8042, growth was influenced only by the most limiting amino acid relative to the requirements of the test organism.Results with enzyme hydrolyzates correlated poorly with P.E.R. values, whereas, with acid hydrolyzates, a good correlation was obtained for cereal proteins. A difference in amino acid requirements was largely responsible for the lack of agreement between the P.E.R. assay and methods employing L. mesenteroides, particularly for legumes and foods of animal origin. It was concluded that bacteriological assay methods which have been proposed for protein evaluation are unsatisfactory as screening procedures for the evaluation of protein in foods.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2303
Author(s):  
Marleen Elise van der Heide ◽  
Lene Stødkilde ◽  
Jan Værum Nørgaard ◽  
Merete Studnitz

Organic monogastric agriculture is challenged because of a limited availability of regional and organic protein-rich ingredients to fulfill the amino acid requirements. The development of novel feed ingredients is therefore essential. The use of starfish (Asterias rubens), mussel (Mytilus edilus), insect, green and brown seaweed, and forage crop extracts exhibits different approaches to increase protein availability in a sustainable manner through improving the protein quality of existing ingredients, better use of under- or unutilized material, or development of circular bioeconomy. This review assessed limitations and opportunities of producing, processing, and using these novel ingredients in feed. The use of non-renewable resources and the effect on the environment of production and processing the feed ingredients are described. Protein concentration and amino acid quality of the feed ingredients are evaluated to understand their substitution potential compared with protein-rich soya bean and fishmeal. Feedstuffs’ effect on digestibility and animal performance is summarized. With the exception of seaweed, all novel ingredients show potential to partly substitute fishmeal or soya bean fulfilling part of the protein requirement in organic monogastric production. However, improvements during production and processing can be made to enhance protein quality, sustainability of the novel ingredients, and nutrient utilization of novel feed ingredients.


1959 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1351-1360 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. G. Rogers ◽  
J. M. McLaughlan ◽  
D. G. Chapman

Bacteriological methods for the determination of protein quality were evaluated by comparison with protein efficiency ratio (P.E.R.) values determined by a standardized rat growth assay. Enzyme or acid hydrolyzates of foods were used as the source of amino acids with hydrolyzed whole egg powder as the reference standard. With Streptococcus faecalis A.T.C.C. 9790 autolysis occurred in media containing hydrolyzates of proteins deficient in lysine, and was largely responsible for results which did not agree with P.E.R. values. In methods employing Leuconostoc mesenteroides P-60 A.T.C.C. 8042, growth was influenced only by the most limiting amino acid relative to the requirements of the test organism.Results with enzyme hydrolyzates correlated poorly with P.E.R. values, whereas, with acid hydrolyzates, a good correlation was obtained for cereal proteins. A difference in amino acid requirements was largely responsible for the lack of agreement between the P.E.R. assay and methods employing L. mesenteroides, particularly for legumes and foods of animal origin. It was concluded that bacteriological assay methods which have been proposed for protein evaluation are unsatisfactory as screening procedures for the evaluation of protein in foods.


1972 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. KNIPFEL ◽  
M. O. KEITH ◽  
D. A. CHRISTENSEN ◽  
B. D. OWEN

Four experiments were undertaken to establish the effects of diet and feeding regimen on serum amino acid concentrations of growing swine. Single meal feeding resulted in fluctuations in serum amino acid levels that could not be attributed solely to diet. A short-interval feeding regimen was proposed that resulted in relatively stable serum amino acid concentrations during the refeeding program. This procedure was suggested to be useful in attempting to evaluate protein quality by examination of serum amino acid fluctuations. A semipurified diet was observed to result in extremely high serum levels of methionine and several other amino acids, raising the possibility that the dietary amino acid requirements of swine fed semipurified diets were lower than accepted values. When the dietary methionine concentration was altered from 0.41% to 0.70%, an adaptation period of about 3 days was required to stabilize serum methionine at a new level.


2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Joe Millward ◽  
Alan A Jackson

AbstractRevised estimates of protein and amino acid requirements are under discussion by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organizaion (WHO), and have been proposed in a recent report on Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) from the USA. The nature and magnitude of these requirements are not entirely resolved, and no consideration has been given to the potential influence of metabolic adaptation on dietary requirements. We have examined the implications of these new values, and of the conceptual metabolic framework in which they are used, for defining the nutritional adequacy of protein intakes in developed and developing countries. We have expressed proposed values for protein requirements in relation to energy requirements, predicted for physical activity levels of 1.5, 1.75 and 2.0 times basal metabolic rate, in order to generate reference ratios for protein energy/total energy (reference P/E ratio) as a function of age, body weight, gender and physical activity level. Proposed values for amino acid requirements have been used to adjust the available digestible P/E ratio of foods and diets for protein quality. Focusing on the diets of UK omnivores and vegetarians and on diets in India, the risk of protein deficiency is evaluated from a comparison of P/E ratios of metabolic requirements with protein-quality-adjusted P/E ratios of intakes. A qualitative and conservative estimate of risk of deficiency is made by comparing the adjusted P/E ratio of the intake with a reference P/E ratio calculated for age, body weight, gender and physical activity according to FAO/WHO/United Nations University. A semi-quantitative estimate of risk of deficiency has also been made by the cut point approach, calculated as the proportion of the intake distribution below the mean P/E ratio of the requirement. Values for the quality-adjusted P/E ratio of the diet range from 0.126 for the UK omnivore diet to 0.054 for a rice-based diet of adults in West Bengal, which is lysine-limited, falling to 0.050 for 1-year-old children. The reference P/E ratio for men and women increases with age, is higher for females than males, is higher for small compared with large adults at any age and decreases with physical activity. Thus if a particular diet is potentially limiting in protein, protein deficiency is most likely in large, elderly sedentary women followed by the adolescent female and least likely in moderately active young children, the opposite of what has usually been assumed. Within the currently accepted framework, the diets do not meet the protein needs of the entire population of the UK, have a significant risk of deficiency throughout India for all except extremely active small adults, and are grossly inadequate for all population groups, apart from physically active young children in West Bengal, regardless of body weight or level of food intake. The lysine limitation of the cereal-based Indian diets is dependent on the choice of lysine requirement values from the published range. We consider that the value selected is too high, because of uncertainties and inconsistencies in the approaches used. A more appropriate choice from the lower end of the range would remove the lysine limitation of cereal-based diets, and reduce some of the perceived risk of deficiency. However, diets remain limited by the amount of digestible protein for many population groups, especially in West Bengal. In the context of risk management, one option would be to accept the current values and the conceptual metabolic framework within which they have been derived. This would have major implications for the supplies of high-quality protein to the developing countries. An alternative option would be to re-evaluate the currently proposed values for the requirements for protein and amino acids. We conclude that the choice of values for the adult lysine requirement should be re-evaluated and that serious consideration should be given to the extent to which adaptive mechanisms might enable the metabolic requirement for protein to be met from current intakes. This will entail a better understanding of the relationships between dietary protein and health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 679-695
Author(s):  
Chan Hee Mok ◽  
Kristine L. Urschel

Evaluating amino acid requirements, specifically threonine requirements, in horses will enable better feed formulation and result in economic production, improved animal health, and reduced environmental pollution. However, the current knowledge of protein and amino acid requirements in horses is still limited. Because horses have a unique digestive system and consume a variety of feed ingredients, their protein digestibility may be affected than other species by different feed composition, and thus amino acid requirements are susceptible to vary between situations. Therefore, a careful evaluation of amino acid requirements with a proper method is needed for various conditions. This review will also provide comprehensive information that needs to be considered when designing an amino acid requirement study in horses.


2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (S2) ◽  
pp. S31-S43 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Joe Millward

The 1985 FAO/WHO/UNU protein report defined reference amino acid patterns for infants based on breast milk and for preschool children, schoolchildren and adults from age specific estimates of dietary indispensible amino acid requirements divided by the safe protein requirement for each age group. This report argued that the protein quality of a diet should be estimated from its digestibility adjusted by its amino acid score calculated from its limiting amino acid in comparison with the reference amino acid pattern. Subsequently a joint FAO/WHO expert consultation on protein quality evaluation (1991) endorsed this protein digestibility-corrected score approach. However it rejected the adult scoring pattern identified in the 1985 report arguing that the amino acid values for this pattern were too low. As an interim measure it suggested that the scoring pattern for preschool children should be used for all age groups apart from infants. The recent WHO/FAO/UNU (2007) report endorsed the 1985 report in recommending the amino acid content of breast milk as the best estimate of infant amino acid requirements. However it was only able to identify reliable requirement values for adults and adopted a factorial approach to derivation of age-related scoring patterns. This utilized the adult pattern for maintenance, and the pattern of human tissue protein for growth. Thus scoring patterns were derived for children aged 0·5, 1–2, 3–10, 11–14, 15–18 years and for adults. The total dietary amino acid requirements calculated for these age groups were divided by the mean protein requirement to give the scoring pattern which should be used to adjust digestible intakes to identify the available protein in specific diets. However because the adult values were determined in subjects at protein intakes much higher than the mean minimum protein requirement, i.e. at 1 g/kg/d rather than 0·66 g/kg/d, the pattern is likely to include higher values than the minimum requirement and should therefore be referenced against the safe allowance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 557 ◽  
Author(s):  
AnuraV Kurpad ◽  
Nirupama Shivakumar ◽  
Sumedha Minocha

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