. W. 2008. Pancreatic mass, cellularity, and a-amylase and trypsin activity in feedlot steers fed diets with increasing corn silage inclusion. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 88: 703Á709. Twentyfour yearling beef steers (initial BW 053595.0 kg), predominately of Angus breeding, were used in a randomized complete block design to determine the effect of dietary inclusion of corn silage on pancreatic cellularity, mass, and a-amylase and trypsin activity. Using calan gates, steers were individually fed diets containing 20, 40, 60, or 80% corn silage (DM basis) with the rest of the diet made up of concentrate. Diets were formulated to maintain a constant CP:ME (g Mcal ) and were fed at 2.1 )NE m requirement. After 28 d on treatment, the two heaviest steers from each treatment were slaughtered per week and pancreata collected. Pancreatic weight (g and g kg(1 BW) and content (kU and U kg (1 BW) of a-amylase activity did not differ among dietary treatments. Concentration (U g(1 ) of pancreatic a-amylase decreased (P00.03) with increasing corn silage inclusion. Pancreatic DNA and RNA content (g and mg kg(1 BW) increased linearly (P 50.04) with increasing corn silage inclusion. The content of pancreatic trypsin activity responded cubically (P00.03). These data indicate that increasing corn silage inclusion does not influence total pancreatic a-amylase activity and that cell number may influence pancreatic a-amylase concentration. Ces re´sultats indiquent qu'augmenter la quantite´d'ensilage de maı¨s dans la ration n'exerce aucune influence sur l'activite´totale de la a-amylase pancre´atique mais que le nombre de cellules pourrait agir sur la concentration de cette enzyme.Mots clé s: Mots cle´s: Bovins de boucherie, pancre´as, a-amylase, trypsine, fourrage, concentreT he pancreas produces enzymes responsible for the digestion of nutrients in the small intestine. Pancreatic a-amylase and trypsin are responsible for the partial hydrolysis of starch and protein, respectively, in the small intestine. Pancreatic exocrine function is influenced by nutritional as well as genetic factors Swanson and Miller 2008). In high concentrate feedlot diets, significant amounts of dietary starch reach the small intestine (Theurer 1986) where there may be limitations in starch digestion due to inadequate a-amylase secretion Harmon et al. 2004). Dietary forage:concentrate may be an important regulator of pancreatic exocrine function. Data suggest that pancreatic content of aamylase activity decreases in cattle fed a high grain diet vs. those fed a high forage diet at similar energy intakes (Kreikemeier et al. 1990;Harmon 1992). However, when dietary metabolizable protein intake was fed at similar intakes in lambs, content of pancreatic a-amylase activity was not influenced by increased starch concenAbbreviations: ADF, acid detergent fibre; BW, body weight; DM, dry matter; ME, metabolizable energy; NDF, neutral detergent fibre; NE m , net energy for maintenance For personal use only.