In vivo and in vitro lipogenesis and aspects of metabolism in ovines: Effect of environmental temperature and dietary lipid supplementation

Abstract

Twenty-four wether lambs were randomly allocated to six treatments to investigate the effect of temperature and dietary lipid supplements on fatty acid synthesis and metabolic activity in sheep. The treatments consisted of four groups exposed to either cold (0 °C) or warm temperature (+23 °C) and given ad libitum access to either a control barley-based diet or with lipid supplementation. Two other groups were placed on the dietary regimen at 0 °C, but pair-fed to intake of animals in the +23 °C environment. At 5 wk, fatty acid synthesis was measured by [1-14C]acetate incorporation into tissue lipids. Cold exposure and dietary lipid supplementation had no effect (P > 0.05) on in vivo fatty acid synthesis rates in either longissimus dorsi or the liver. In both subcutaneous and mesenteric adipose tissue depots, the rate of acetate incorporation into tissue lipid was not significantly affected by cold exposure. In the perirenal fat depot, cold exposure increased (P < 0.05) the rate of fatty acid synthesis, while lipid supplementation decreased (P < 0.05) the rate in all tissue adipose depots. In vitro, mesenteric and perirenal adipose tissues from cold pair-fed animals had higher (P < 0.05) rates of fatty acid synthesis compared to tissues from animals in the warm environment. However, there was no effect of dietary lipid supplementation in these two fat depots. Metabolic heat production, and energy and nitrogen excretion by animals were increased (P < 0.05) by cold exposure while lipid supplementation had the opposite effect (P < 0.05). The relationship between average daily gain and feed intake was linear at both warm and cold environments, but with higher (P < 0.05) average daily gain at all levels of intake in the cold compared to the warm environment. Results indicate that both environment and diet regulate metabolic activity in sheep. However, there were differences in lipogenic response by tissues to the treatments. Key words: Environmental temperature, dietary lipid, fatty acid synthesis, metabolic rate, sheep