Dynamic aspects of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production in swine

A model is proposed that allows study of the short-term dynamics of gas exchanges (and heat production) in large open-circuit respiration chambers. The model describes changes in [O 2 ] and [CO 2 ] in the respiration chamber by a series of differential equations based on animal metabolism and physical characteristics of gas exchange. The model structure was similar for O 2 and CO 2 , although model parameters differed. A constant level of O 2 consumption (and CO 2 production) was assumed for resting animals which was different for fed and fasted animals. The adaptation from a fed to a fasting state was described as a first-order process. Physical activity (standing or sitting) was recorded and was included in the model as a constant. Thermic effect of feed comprised the O 2 consumption and CO 2 production related to several relatively rapidly occurring processes after ingestion of a meal (e.g. ingestion, digestion or absorption). In the model, these processes were pooled into a single phenomenon. Model parameters were obtained statistically by comparing model predictions (based on the numerically integrated differential equations) with the observed [O 2 ] and [CO 2 ]. The model was evaluated by studying gas exchanges in growing pigs that were fasted for 31 h and re-fed a single meal thereafter. The model fitted the data well over the 47 h measurement range. Traditional methods in which heat production is calculated suffer from noisy data when the interval between observations becomes too short. The proposed method circumvents this by modelling the observed concentration of gases in the respiration chamber rather than the calculated heat production.