Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (7): 3032-3039.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.07.022

• Animal Nutrition and Feeds • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Dietary Different Copper Levels on Production Performance and Hair Follicle Development in Angora Rabbits

Xiaosong WANG1(), Dong LI1, Shu LI1, Jiali CHEN1, Yongxu LIU2, Hong ZHAO2, Fuchang LI1,*(), Lei LIU1,*()   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Non-grain Feed Resources (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Animal Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China
    2. Qingdao Kangda Jiahui Feed Co., LTD, Qingdao 266499, China
  • Received:2023-10-16 Online:2024-07-23 Published:2024-07-24
  • Contact: Fuchang LI, Lei LIU E-mail:14768123432@163.com;chlf@sdau.edu.cn;leiliu@sdau.edu.cn

Abstract:

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of different levels of dietary copper on production performance and hair follicle development of Angora rabbits. A total of 180 Angora rabbits (5 months old) were randomly divided into 5 groups (36 replicates per group, one replicate per group) and fed with a basal diet containing 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg·kg-1 copper, respectively. The prefeeding period was 3 days, and the experimental period was 76 days. The results showed that: 1) The hair yield reached the maximum and the feed/wool ratio was relatively low when Cu was added at the level of 5 mg·kg-1 (P < 0.01), but it had no significant effect on the average daily feed intake of Angora rabbits (P>0.05). 2) Compared with the control group, the addition of 40 mg·kg-1 copper significantly increased the breaking strength F, breaking strength P and breaking work W (P < 0.01), significantly affected the elongation and elongation rate (P < 0.05), and improved the quality of rabbit hair. 3) Dietary copper concentration significantly increased the secondary hair follicle density (P < 0.01) and total hair follicle density (P < 0.05), and the total hair follicle density and secondary hair follicle density reached the maximum when the amount of copper was 5 mg·kg-1. Dietary copper (5 mg·kg-1) significantly increased the expression of Wnt10b and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) (P < 0.01), and significantly increased the expression of keratin-related protein 6-1 gene (Kap6.1) (P < 0.05). The expression of mTOR reached the maximum at the copper addition of 40 mg·kg-1. Copper addition had no significant effect on the gene expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and transforming growth factor-β2 (TGF-β2) (P>0.05). In conclusion, dietary Cu supplementation can improve hair production performance, improve hair quality, and promote hair follicle development in Angora rabbits, which may be regulated by Wnt10b, mTOR and Kap6.1 genes. Under the conditions of this experiment, 13.72 mg·kg-1 copper level in the diet of Angora rabbits is the most suitable.

Key words: Angora rabbit, copper, performance of production, hair follicle development

CLC Number: