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Effect of diet on amino acid composition of soft faeces and the contribution of soft faeces to total amino acid intake, through caecotrophy in lactating doe rabbits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

N. Nicodemus ,
J. Mateos ,
J. C. de Blas ,
R. Carabaño  and
M. J. Fraga
N. Nicodemus
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal, ETS Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica, 28040 Madrid, Spain
J. Mateos
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal, ETS Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica, 28040 Madrid, Spain
J. C. de Blas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal, ETS Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica, 28040 Madrid, Spain
R. Carabaño
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal, ETS Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica, 28040 Madrid, Spain
M. J. Fraga
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal, ETS Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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Abstract

Twenty-five New Zealand White × Californian lactating doe rabbits were used to study the effect of different dietary fibre concentrations on the amino acid contribution of soft faeces to the total amino acid intake. Five isoenergetic diets containing 312, 334, 360, 384, and 412 g/kg neutral-detergent fibre (DM basis) were formulated. All diets were designed to maintain the same amino acid pattern. Soft faeces production showed a trend to increase (P = 0·07) as dietary fibre increased. The content of isoleucine (P < 0·01), glutamic acid, leucine and alanine (P < 0·05) in soft faeces decreased as the dietary fibre increased. A trend to decrease with the increase of dietary fibre was also observed for aspartic acid (P = 0·06), lysine (P = 0·07), methionine and valine (P = 0·1). As a consequence, the soft faeces contribution to the total intake of individual amino acids did not vary with the type of diet. The average contribution of soft faeces to the total amino acid intake for the most limiting amino acids of lactating doe rabbits under practical conditions, methionine, threonine and lysine, were 0·17 , 0·21 and 0·18 g/g, respectively.

Keywords

amino acidscaecotrophyfibre contentrabbits
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 69 , Issue 1 , August 1999 , pp. 167 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

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