Colostrum protein digestion in newborn lambs.

The efficiency of colostral protein digestion was studied in nine newborn lambs fed one meal of bovine colostrum 3 h after birth. The results were compared with those obtained in two unfed lambs and four lambs fed bovine milk. The protein and peptide composition [immunoglobulins G1 and (IgG1), beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, caseins and peptides resulting from casein hydrolysis] of digesta, gastrointestinal tissues, blood and urine were determined in samples taken 0.75 or 4 h after feeding. The amounts of ingested proteins in lambs fed colostrum were much higher than in those fed the milk diet, and their abomasal emptying was faster. alpha-Lactalbumin was highly degraded by abomasal and intestinal proteases, whereas beta-lactoglobulin and in particular the immunoglobulins were less sensitive. The gastric emptying of caseins was delayed in and the kinetics of appearance of peptides originating from casein hydrolysis was comparable to that observed in lambs fed milk and in 1-mo-old preruminant calves. Thirty-five percent of dietary amino acids ingested as colostrum were available within 4 h for amino acid metabolism; this percentage was 54% in the milk-fed lambs. In the lambs fed colostrum, these amino acids were provided by beta-lactoglobulin, casein and IgG1 (0.52, 0.43 and 0.30 g/kg body wt, respectively), whereas in milk-fed animals casein and beta-lactoglobulin were the most important sources of these amino acids (0.40 and 0.20 g/kg, respectively).