Contribution of nutrient fluxes to the evolution of the net energy systems, example of the INRA feeding system for beef cattle

Energy feeding systems define energy as a whole, but progress made to define metabolizable energy (ME) as the sum of the metabolizable nutrients produced by digestion and available for tissue metabolism in a wide range of nutritional situations opens the way to quantitatively model and predict nutrient fluxes between and within tissues and organs and improve predictions of energy use. This review addresses the contribution of nutrient flux concepts and data to the evolution of the Institut de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) energy feeding system for growing and fattening cattle and evaluates the outcomes on the net energy (NE) requirements. It summarizes recent progress made to quantitatively predict nutrient fluxes both at digestive and visceral levels. It reviews how nutrient flux concepts and results were introduced in the recently updated INRA feeding system, resulting in improvements in the accuracy of the revised digestible energy (DE) and ME value of diets. The use of an independent database showed that for diets fed to fattening cattle, DE and ME concentrations were downgraded for low-energy-dense diets and upgraded for high-energy-dense diets. We are also showing that compared with its previous version, the updated INRA system improves the quantitative relationship between ME supply and flows of metabolizable nutrients. Evidence is provided on how measured nutrient fluxes at portal level were used to evaluate the predicted flows of metabolizable nutrients. This review then revisits the NE values of diets for fattening cattle as defined by the INRA feeding system and not updated yet. Using an independent database and at similar ME intake, carcass composition was shown to be linearly related to the energy density of diets for fiber-rich diets but not for concentrate-rich diets, suggesting that the efficiency of energy utilization of ME into NE is not linearly related to differences in the composition of the gain. Accounting for the balance of metabolizable nutrients or their proxies in models used to predict carcass composition from ME intake can improve predictions. Overall partitioning aggregated energy fluxes into their subcomponent nutrient fluxes in a more physiological approach offers promising perspectives for the evolution of NE feeding systems.