Activity of intestinal mucosal membrane carbohydrases in cattle of different breeds

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine differences in length of intestinal villi and crypts and activity of mucosal carbohydrases of several breeds of beef cattle. Tissue samples, from three locations in the small intestine, were obtained from heifers and steers of Wagyu (W) × Angus (W × A), W × Hereford (W × H) and W × Holstein (W × O) crossbred cattle and from Holstein, Parthenais and Piedmontese steers at slaughter. In W × A cattle villi were shorter and crypts were longer (P < 0.05) than in cattle of other breeds. Mucosal protein concentration was highest (P < 0.05) in the mid- and distal intestinal regions in the W × A cattle. Maltase activity was highest (P < 0.05) for W × H heifers and least (P < 0.05) for W × A heifers in the proximal intestinal region. Holstein and Piedmontese steers had the highest ADG, and Holstein steers had the highest lactase activity in the mid-intestinal region. Lactase activity in the mid-intestinal region appeared to be weakly associated with ADG of cattle (r = 0.454, P = 0.015, n = 28). These data suggest that differences due to breed of cattle exist in villus and crypt lengths and mucosal carbohydrase activity; however, the influence of these intestinal parameters on cattle performance may be relatively small. Key words: Intestinal villi, crypt, cellobioase, maltase, lactase, beef cattle