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Stable carbon isotope analysis of different tissues of beef animals in relation to their diet
Author(s) -
De Smet Stefaan,
Balcaen An,
Claeys Erik,
Boeckx Pascal,
Van Cleemput Oswald
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.1471
Subject(s) - chemistry , zoology , stable isotope ratio , significant difference , blood plasma , isotope analysis , kidney , food science , biochemistry , biology , medicine , endocrinology , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics
As part of a larger experiment, 31 young bulls, divided into three groups, were given different diets containing either C 3 plants or a combination of C 3 and C 4 plant‐based feeds in three feeding periods before slaughter. Variation in the proportion of C 4 plant material in the diets was made by including or not maize or maize‐derived ingredients, whereas the other dietary constituents were from C 3 plants. Analysis of stable carbon isotope ratios ( δ 13 C value) was performed on different tissues taken at slaughter: blood, plasma, liver, kidney fat, hair, muscle and ruminal contents. Blood and plasma samples were also taken at the beginning of each period. A highly significant difference was found in the δ 13 C values of blood and plasma samples taken from animals that had received a diet of only C 3 plants or with 59% C 4 material for 70 days. The δ 13 C values of all different samples taken at slaughter were highly significantly different between the three feeding groups that had received diets with 0, 13.5 or 35% C 4 material for on average 137, 139 and 83 days, respectively. For the three groups, samples of hair, muscle, plasma, whole blood and liver were significantly enriched in 13 C compared with the diet (except for liver in one group), whereas kidney fat was significantly depleted. The proportion of C 4 plant material could be accurately estimated from the δ 13 C values of different tissue samples. Stable carbon analysis of different tissues from beef animals can be used to trace back diets containing variable proportions of C 3 and C 4 plant material. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.