ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (5): 1006-1015.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.05.011

• ANIMAL NUTRITION AND FEEDS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Early Feeding on Rumen and Small Intestine Morphology of Goat Kids

LÜ Xiaokang1, XIE Biao1, HUANG Wenqin1, WANG Shuyan2, BI Yanliang1, TAO Hui1, CUI Kai1, DIAO Qiyu1, ZHANG Naifeng1*   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China;
    2. Henan Zhai Institute of Animal Health Supervision and Administration of Miyun District, Beijing 101500, China
  • Received:2018-11-12 Online:2019-05-23 Published:2019-05-23
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Abstract:

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of early feeding on the morphology of rumen and small intestine of 20-60 day-old goat kids and to explore the relationship between rumen and small intestine morphological development. This experiment was based on a single factor design with the feeding strategy as the experimental factor. Seventy-two Haimen goat kids of 20 days of age with similar body weight were randomly divided into 3 treatments with 6 replicates in each treatment and 4 kids in each replicate. Goat kids were fed with milk replacer (MRO group), milk replacer+concentrate (MRC group), milk replacer+concentrate+alfalfa pellets (MCA group), respectively. The experiment lasted for 40 days after a 3-d adaptation period. Growth performance and nutrients apparent digestibility were determined during the trial. Slaughter experiment was carried out to determine the morphology of the rumen and small intestine on 60 days of age of the goat kids. The results showed that:1) During the 20-60 days of age, the dry matter and crude protein intake of goat kids in MRO group were significantly lower than those in MCA and MRC groups(P<0.05). But the apparent digestibility of dry matter and crude protein of goat kids in MRO group were significantly higher than that in MCA and MRC groups(P<0.05). 2) The rumen papilla length and width of goat kids in MCA group were significantly higher than those in MRO group(P<0.05). The length of rumen papilla of goat kids in MRC group was significantly higher than that in MRO group (P<0.05). 3) The crypt depth of duodenal of goat kids in MCA group was significantly greater than that in MRO group(P<0.05), while the V/C value was significantly lower in MCA group compared with MRO group(P<0.05). Compared with MCA group, the jejunal crypt depth of goat kids in MRC and MRO groups were significantly decreased (P<0.05), but the V/C values were significantly increased (P<0.05). The ileal V/C values of goat kids in MRC and MCA groups were significantly decreased compared with MRO group (P<0.05). 4) The papilla length, papilla width and epithelial thickness of rumen, and the crypt depth of jejunum and ileum were positively significantly cor-related with digestible dry matter intake and digestible protein intake(P<0.05), whereas the V/C values of duodenum and ileum were negatively significantly correlated with digestible dry matter intake and digestible protein intake(P<0.05). The digestible NDF intake was negatively sig-nificantly correlated with the thickness of the rumen keratin layer(P<0.05), whereas positively significantly correlated with rumen muscle layer thickness(P<0.05). Rumen papilla length and width were positively significantly correlated with digestible NFC intake(P<0.05), whereas the V/C values of the duodenum and ileum were negatively significantly correlated with digestible NFC intake(P<0.05). Early feeding is beneficial to the development of the rumen morphology, but it may slow the development of the small intestine because of the reduced apparent digestibility of nutrients in concentrate pellets or alfalfa pellets compared with milk replacer.

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