Effects of dietary addition of capsicum extract on intake, water consumption, and rumen fermentation of fattening heifers fed a high-concentrate diet.

Four beef Holstein heifers (BW = 438 ± 71 kg) fitted with a 1-cm i.d. plastic ruminal trocars were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design to evaluate the effect of 3 doses of capsicum extract (CAP) on intake, water consumption, and ruminal fermentation in heifers fed a high-concentrate diet. Animals were fed (DM basis) 10% barley straw and 90% concentrate (32.2% barley grain, 27.9% ground corn, 7.5% wheat bran, 10.7% soybean meal, 10.7% soybean hulls, 7.2% corn gluten feed, 3.1% mineral-vitamin mix; 16.6% CP, 18.3% NDF). Treatments were no additive (CTR), 125 (CAP125), 250 (CAP250), and 500 (CAP500) mg/d of capsicum oleoresin standardized with 6% of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin (XTract 6933, Pancosma, Geneva, Switzerland). Each experimental period consisted of 25 d (15 d for adaptation, 5 d of continuous measurement of DMI, and 3 d for rumen sample collection). Animals had ad libitum access to water and feed offered once daily at 0800 h. Data were analyzed by the MIXED procedure of SAS. The model included the fixed effects of period and treatment, the random effect of heifer, and the residual error. The effects were tested for linear and quadratic effects. A linear response was observed (CTR, CAP125, CAP250, and CAP500, respectively) for DMI (8.56, 9.84, 8.68, and 9.40 kg/d; P < 0.04), ruminal pH (6.03, 5.84, 5.96, and 5.86; P < 0.08) and total VFA (134.3, 144.8, 140.1, and 142.8 mM; P < 0.08). There was a strong correlation between water consumption and DMI (R(2) = 0.98). Dry matter intake in the first 2 h after feeding was reduced (P < 0.05) in all CAP treatments compared with control. The molar proportion of acetate tended to decrease linearly (from 59.6 to 55.5 mol/100 mol; P < 0.06), and ammonia N concentration tended to increase linearly (from 14.4 to 16.0 mg N/dL; P < 0.08). In contrast, the molar proportion of propionate (23.8 mol/100 mol), butyrate (14.2 mol/100 mol), and lactate (0.28 mol/100 mol) were not affected by treatments. Results indicate that capsicum extract stimulated DMI and modified the pattern of DMI in beef cattle fed high concentrate diets.

Effect of nylon bag and protozoa on in vitro corn starch disappearance.

An in vitro experiment was carried out to study whether the presence of protozoa in nylon bags can explain the underestimation of the in situ degradation of slowly degradable starch. Corn of a high (flint) and a low (dent) vitreousness variety was ground over a 3-mm screen, weighed in nylon bags with a pore size of 37 microm, and washed in cold water. Samples of washed cornstarch were incubated in 40-mL tubes with faunated and defaunated ruminal fluid. An additional amount of washed corn, in nylon bags, was inserted in each incubation tube. Incubations were carried out for 0, 2, 4, 6, 12, and 24 h, and starch residue in tube and nylon bag was determined. In general, starch disappearance from the nylon bag was less than from the tube, and was less with faunated than defaunated rumen fluid, but corn variety did not affect starch disappearance. When no protozoa were present, the disappearance of starch from the bags was higher after 6 and 12 h incubation compared with presence of protozoa. However, in the tubes, there was no difference in starch disappearance due to presence or absence of protozoa. Estimated lag time was higher in presence (4.6 h) then absence (3.6 h) of protozoa. It was concluded that the effect of presence or absence of protozoa on starch disappearance differs within or outside nylon bags. The reduced disappearance rate of starch inside the nylon bags in the presence of protozoa helps to explain the underestimation of starch degradation based on the in sacco procedure when compared with in vivo data upon incubation of slowly degradable starch sources.

The prenatal development of the human orbit.

During the 1970s, as part of his work for a doctor's thesis in which he described the development of the human orbit in great detail, the first author established the largest anatomical collection of embryonic and fetal orbits ever. Unfortunately, he died before the thesis could be finished. The thousands of sections have now been scanned at high resolution and made publicly available on the Internet at www.visible-orbit.org; 3-D reconstruction software is being developed. The Discussion and part of the 'Methods' section of this thesis are published in translation in this article. The conclusions of the first author at the time read as follows: (1) initially, the developing orbit is vaguely indicated by condensations in the mesenchymal connective tissue area; (2) in this connective tissue area, chondral, osseous and muscular structures develop and grow until, in the fully developed stage, the orbital content is surrounded by bony surfaces with a thin layer of connective tissue as periosteum, and by a muscle fragment; (3) the embryonic and early fetal phase, during which one can only speak of a 'regio orbitalis,' is followed by a period in which we can speak of a primordial orbit; (4) the phase of the primordial orbit extends until after birth; (5) the surface area of all orbital walls increases more or less linearly; (6) the 'musculus orbitalis Mülleri' occupies a special place in the orbital wall; (7) the so-called 'regio craniolateralis' is the primordium, which, in the fully developed stage, is occupied by the thick intersection of the frontolateral and the horizontal part of the frontal bone; (8) in the frontal plane, the shape of the primordial orbit, as well as that of the fully developed orbit, is more or less round; (9) the prenatal development of an eye socket is a complex event, characterized by changes in composition, shape and size of the orbital wall; and (10) the orbit can only be denoted by the term "eye socket" when it is fully developed. At the end of the thesis, he also presented the following postulates: (1) in the prenatal orbit, the development of the so-called 'periorbita' is at the forefront; (2) the mutual rotation of the orbital axes and the frontalization of the eyes from approx. 180 degrees in the early prenatal stages to approx. 50 degrees in adulthood do not seem to be caused by mechanical influences of the surrounding tissue; (3) the pterygopalatine fossa and the 'cavum cerebri' are not part of the orbit at any developmental stage; (4) in the prenatal skull, the inferior nasal concha, which forms part of the maxilla in the fully developed skull, is part of the 'capsula nasalis'; and (5) in order to achieve normal development of the eye socket in microphthalmus and anophthalmus, the normal orbital content should be restored.