Dietary whole cottonseed depresses lipogenesis but has no effect on stearoyl coenzyme desaturase activity in bovine subcutaneous adipose tissue.

The primary objective of this study was to determine the effect of long-term feeding of whole cottonseed (WCS) on lipogenesis and stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase activity in growing steers. Brangus steers were fed either a control, cornbased diet (n = 11) or 30% WCS (n = 12). The 30% WCS contributed an estimated 6.6% additional lipid to the diet. Steers fed the added WCS had greater live weights (P = 0.04) and kidney, pelvic, and heart fat (P = 0.005). Subcutaneous fat thickness was not different (P = 0.20) between treatment groups, although WCS elicited an increase in the proportion of large diameter subcutaneous adipocytes. The rate of [U-14C]acetate incorporation into fatty acids in subcutaneous adipose tissue was reduced by dietary WCS (171.4 vs 122.1 nmol x 100 mg adipose tissue-1 x 2 hr-1, P = 0.03), indicating that the increased dietary fat depressed de novo lipogenesis. Hepatic desaturase activity was much lower than that of subcutaneous adipose tissue, a feature common to cattle. We anticipated that added WCS also would depress stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase activity in subcutaneous adipose tissue and liver due to its cyclopropene fatty acid content. Instead, desaturase activity was numerically (although not significantly) greater in liver (P = 0.37) and adipose tissue (P = 0.23).