Pancreatic nutritional response of preruminant calves: effects of different treated soybean diets

Abstract

The replacement of skim milk by soybean products in the diet given to preruminant calves has been shown to decrease pancreas size and protease secretions (Gorrill et al, 1967; Guilloteau et al, 1986 (table I). That trend was not apparent for the trypsin activity (data not shown). In the present experiment, the soybean products had less effects on the pancreas weight and protease activities than those recorded by Gorrill et al (1967) and Guilloteau et al (1986). In contrast, the decreased amylase activity has not been observed by these authors and could be related to the elimination of soybean carbohydrates in PHI. The relative mRNA levels were not significantly affected by soybean diets, but they all tended to be higher with the HSF diet. However, these variations were insufficient to indicate the mechanisms involved in the pancreas response to different soybean products. Further investigations are required.