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Digestion of Sorghum Grain Endosperm in the Rat and Pig Observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy¹

Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506

Abstract

Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe starch granule and endosperm cell wall digestion in the gastrointestinal tracts of rats and pigs. Minute starch granule damage occurred in samples recovered from the rat stomach. Hydrolysis of exposed starch granules was prominent in split kernels recovered from the rat and pig jejunum. Several layers of endosperm cell walls were broken as the kernels passed through the small intestine, however, cell walls diminished amylolysis of underlying starch granules. At any one time, amylolysis occurred in a single layer of cells below exposed endosperm. The enzymes apparently diffused through the cell wall.

The nature of starch granule erosion was identical in the small intestines of rats and pigs; however, erosion differed noticeably between waxy and yellow endosperm sorghum grain hybrids.

Amylolytic patterns in samples from the small intestine were analogous with those from the cecum, large intestine, and feces. Breaks in the endosperm cell walls appeared to increase during digestion in the cecum and large intestine.

¹ Contribution No. 464, Department of Animal Science and Industry, Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

² Present address: Department of Grain Science, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506.