Three experiments were conducted to study changes in exocrine pancreas function in relation to age, dietary fat and digestibility in poultry. In the first experiment, 120 White Leghorn and 120 Hubbard chicks were fed a basal diet with or without 5% animal fat. Total units of lipase, amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin activities in pancreas increased linearly with age in Hubbards from 2 to 29 days, but plateaued after 16 days in Leghorns. Hubbards showed higher total pancreatic lipase, amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin activities compared with Leghorns. Addition of 5% dietary fat significantly increased total lipase activity in pancreas, but decreased total amylase activity. Added fat had no well defined effect on total pancreatic trypsin and chymotrypsin activities. Fat digestibility in Leghorns fed the low fat diet increased significantly from 14 to 30 days of age, but not in Leghorns fed the high fat diet; while Hubbards fed both diets showed a significant decrease in fat digestibility. Fat digestibility was increased with added fat in both breeds. No direct correlation was found between nutrient digestibility and corresponding enzyme activity. In the second experiment, 80 young White Leghorn hens were fed a basal diet with or without 5% animal fat. Fat supplementation did not generally significantly affect lipase activities, but total lipase activity in pancreas decreased after 10.6 and increased after 12.7 mo in pancreata of birds fed both diets and fed the high fat diet, respectively. Fat digestibility was not affected by age, but was higher with fat supplementation. In the third experiment, 96 older White Leghorn hens were fed a basal diet with or without 5% animal fat. Total pancreatic lipase activity showed a U-shaped curve with the lowest value at 15.7 mo and increased after 15.7 mo following either natural or force molting. Fat supplementation did not significantly affect lipase activities. Amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin activities decreased with age from 10.2 to 15.7 mo, but were increased with fat supplementation. Fat digestibility was not affected by age, but was significantly higher with fat supplementation.

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A neonatal hyperalimentation microcomputer program was designed to generate labels, and calculate mixing instructions. Artificial intelligence techniques including, interviewing experts and an inference algorithm, were employed to provide decision support in identifying clinically inappropriate orders. Development cost was $10,000. The program was alpha phase tested comparing pharmacists and technicians performance. Task time was high and prone to human mathematical error for pharmacists and technicians using an electric typewriter and calculator. All subjects performed poorly with low confidence in manually determining inappropriate orders, although pharmacists scored slightly higher. Task time was decreased 17 minutes with no errors using the program. Appropriateness, confidence and composite performance were vastly improved with decision support. Pharmacists composite performance was slightly higher.

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