The relation between food intake and abomasal emptying and small intestinal transit time in sheep

The relation between the level of food intake and gastrointestinal motility and digesta flow in the abomasum and small intestine was studied in sheep fitted with nichrome-wire electrodes in the gut wall, an abomasal and a duodenal catheter and a terminal ileal cannula. Abomasal volume and outflow were calculated from CrEDTA dilution in six sheep and small intestinal transit time by the passage of Phenol Red in ten sheep. The frequency of the migrating myoelectric complex of the small intestine was not altered by the level of food intake but the duration of the periods of irregular spiking activity, the amplitude of abomasal activity and the frequency of duodenal rushes were decreased as the level of food intake was decreased. There was a linear relation between the level of food intake (FI) and abomasal outflow (mean with SEM: 327 (69) ml/h for each kg FI/d; P less than 0.01), and abomasal volume (mean with SEM: 344 (50) ml/kg FI per d; P less than 0.001), without any significant change in the half-time of marker dilution in the abomasum. Small intestinal transit time decreased with an increase in food intake (mean with SEM: -54.9 (5.6) min/kg FI per d; P less than 0.001). It is concluded that abomasal volume and the rate of digesta flow from the abomasum and along the small intestine are linearly related to the level of food intake.