ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (1): 105-114.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.01.013

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Effects of Dietary Energy and Protein Levels on the Growth, Digestion Performance and Serum Indexes of 21-60 Days Old Hu Sheep Lambs

HUANG Wenqin, QI Minli, LÜ Xiaokang, CUI Kai, WANG Shiqin, DIAO Qiyu, ZHANG Naifeng*   

  1. Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
  • Received:2018-07-13 Online:2019-01-23 Published:2019-01-23

Abstract:

The aim of this research was to assess the effects of dietary protein and energy levels on the growth, digestion performance and serum biochemical indexes of 21-60 days old Hu sheep lambs. In a 2×2 factorial design arrangement, sixty-four healthy Hu sheep lambs with similar body weight and birth date were assigned to 4 groups, including high energy-high protein (HE-HP), high energy-low protein (HE-LP), low energy-high protein (LE-HP) and low energy-low protein (LE-LP) groups. Each group had 4 replicates with 4 lambs in each replicate. After a three-day adaptation period, all lambs were weaned and fed with milk replacer and starter. The trial lasted for 40 days. The feed intake of lambs were recorded every day. The body weight was measured and blood samples were collected before morning feeding every 20 days. The digestibility tests were carried out from 31 to 40 and 51 to 60 days of age. The results showed that:1) There was no significant interaction between energy and protein levels on growth performance of lambs (P>0.05), but the ADG and feed conversion efficiency significantly decreased with the decrease of dietary protein or energy levels (P<0.05). 2) There was an significant interaction between energy and protein levels on the digestibility of DM and total energy in lambs from 31 to 40 days of age(P<0.05). Specifically, fed with the high energy diet, the digestibility of DM and total energy of lambs significantly decreased with the decrease of protein levels (P<0.05). 3) The serum glucose concentration significantly decreased with the decrease of dietary energy level for 40 days old lambs (P<0.05). At 60 day, decreased the protein levels significantly decreased the serum urea nitrogen content(P<0.05) and significantly increased the serum GH content (P<0.05), decreased the energy levels significantly increased the serum urea nitrogen content (P<0.05) and triglyceride content(P<0.05). In summary, dietary energy and protein levels can affect the growth performance of lambs from 21 to 60 days old, appropriate dietary energy and protein levels should be provided to guarantee the digestion and growth of lambs.

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