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Some Kinetic Characteristics of Rumen Short-Chain Fatty Acids as Measured by the Isotope Dilution Method

Department of Physiological Sciences, University of California, Davis

ABSTRACT

Quantitation of rumen fermentation products has interested investigators, because this would make available important data to evaluate ruminant diets. Volatile short-chain organic acids may provide ruminants with 40–70% of their energy needs (11, 14). To accurately assess this contribution, one must be able to determine the amounts of each acid produced.

Barcroft and his coinvestigators (2) demonstrated that short-chain organic acids produced in the rumen were absorbed. Since the original discovery, numerous investigators have attempted with some success to quantitate the absorbed acids (1, 6, 13, 14). Most of the techniques used to study absorption have been disappearance measurements or changes in concentration of acids in the blood draining the rumen. Some workers have measured production rates of rumen acids by in vivo (7) and by in vitro (8) methods.

Gray et al. (7) have used isotope dilution to study production rates of rumen organic acids and to overcome some difficulties of other techniques used. This technique does have the advantage that it allows in vivo measurement.

² Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado.