A review of energy metabolism in producing ruminants. 2. Control of nutrient partitioning.

Insulin is the primary short-term hormonal regulator of metabolism in the resting ruminant. The concentration of plasma insulin is positively correlated with energy intake. Diets producing hyperinsulinaemia, direct the balance towards body gain (anabolic). However, in lactating animals, the postprandial rise in insulin is reduced, thereby favouring movement of nutrients to the mammary gland and promoting gluconeogenesis. Similar mechanisms balance the demands of foetal and maternal growth. Glucagon, on the other hand, stimulates both glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis in the liver from glucogenic amino acids, thereby indirectly diminishing protein synthesis in muscle. Homeorhetic hormones from both the pituitary and reproductive glands, play a major role in the long-term control of nutrient partitioning. Oestrogens appear to affect feed intake, promote RNA and protein synthesis and inhibit gluconeogenesis in the liver, thereby promoting the metabolic adaptations necessary for pregnancy. Progesterone, on the other hand, appears to block the action of the oestrogens at cellular level, and may actually increase feed intake. The pituitary hormones, prolactin and somatotropin, bring about significant improvements in production, especially in milk yield. The action of the somatomedins appears to be responsible for the paradoxical spectrum of effects attributed to somatotropin.

A review of energy metabolism in producing ruminants. Part 1: Metabolism of energy substrates.

The efficiency of metabolisable energy utilisation, for growth and fattening, is dependent upon the relative VFA proportions produced in the rumen. Sufficient propionate is required to meet glucose demand for producing NADPH, glycerol and nucleic acid synthesis. Since diet has the greatest effect on the pattern of VFA fermentation, it will play a major role in controlling the supply of VFA to the animal. Magnitude of the acetate supply determines the proportion of acetate supplied to oxidation or to fatty acid synthesis, which is also dependent upon the extracellular supply of glucose, NADPH and ATP. Since the optimal levels of acetate and glucose for lipogenesis appear to vary with glucose concentration, a diet that decreases the supply of glucogenic precursors, but increases the acetate supply, may suppress fatty acid synthesis. An increased supply of propionate may suppress glucose synthesis from other sources. The isoenergetic replacement of roughage by concentrate, appears to increase the glucose entry rate, due to both an increase in propionate, and glucose absorbed from the small intestine. Dietary nitrogen source also affects the rate of gluconeogenesis. An optimum dietary energy-protein ratio exists for maximum efficiency of utilisation of both dietary energy and protein. In dairy cows, for example, the energy is most effectively metabolised when protein content of the diet is 15-25% of net energy.