An emerging method for rapid characterization of feed structures and feed component matrix at a cellular leveland relation to feed quality and nutritive value

Abstract

Feed quality, feed characteristics, nutrient utilization and digestive behaviour are closely related to: (i) total feed composition, (ii) feed intrinsic structures, and (iii) biological component matrix (such as protein to starch matrix, protein to carbohydrate matrix). Conventional “wet” chemical analysis can determine total chemical composition, but fails to detect the feed intrinsic structures and biological component matrix due to destruction of feed samples during the processing for chemical analysis and the “wet” chemical analysis cannot link structural information to chemical information within intact feed tissue. Recently, advanced synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy has been developed as a non-destructive and non-invasive structural-chemical analytical technique. This technique can link chemical information to structural information of biological samples within intact tissue within cellular dimensions. It can provide four kinds of information simultaneously: tissue composition, tissue structure, tissue chemistry and tissue environment. However, this novel technique has been found mainly for medical science research, extremely rare for feed science and nutrition research. The objective of this review article was to illustrate synchrotron-based FTIR microspectroscopy as a novel research tool for rapid characterization of feed structures at a cellular level and for detection of chemical features and molecular chemical make-up of feed biological component matrix and nutrient interaction. The emphasis of this article was to show that feed structural-chemical features at a cellular level are closely related to feed characteristics, feed quality and nutritive value in animals. The synchrotron-based technology will provide us with a greater understanding of the plant-animal interface.

Keywords:

• Feed inherent structure
• feed characterization
• biological component matrix
• synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy
• feed quality

Acknowledgments

These studies are based upon research conducted at the National Synchrotron Light Source in Brookhaven National Laboratory (NSLS-BNL, New York, USA) which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy contract DE-AC02-98CH10886 and the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC, University of Wisconsin, Madison) which is supported by the NSF under Award No. DMR-0084402. We are grateful to Drs Lisa Miller and Nebojsa Marinkovic at U10B and U2B (NSLS-BNL, New York) and Dr Robert Julian at Port 031 (SRC, University of Wisconsin, Madison) for the technical assistance in data collection and to Dr Brian Rossnagel (Crop Development Center, University of Saskatchewan) and Mr Vern Racz, Drs Philip Thacker and Rex Newkirk (University of Saskatchewan) for supplying feed samples. This work was done in great cooperation with Drs John McKinnon and Dave Christensen (University of Saskatchewan) and synchrotron scientist Dr Colleen Christensen (Canadian Light Source, Canada). This research has been financially supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC, Individual Discovery Grant to P. Yu).