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The effect of dietary protein:energy ratio during food restriction on the size of the digestive tract and subsequent growth of lambs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2017

A.R. Mantecon
Affiliation:
Departamento de Produccion Animal, Universidad de Leon, 24007 Leon, (Spain)
G.R. Iason
Affiliation:
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Pentlandfield, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RF, U.K.
A.D.M. Smith
Affiliation:
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Pentlandfield, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RF, U.K.
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Extract

During both food restriction and subsequent re-alimentation of sheep, the proportion of empty body weight formed by the gastro-intestinal components has been shown to change (Winter, Tulloh and Murray, 1976; Murray and Slezacek, 1988). The extent and nature of compensatory growth depends on the composition of the diet during restriction (Wilson and Osbourn, 1960). This study investigates the effect of rumen undegradable protein in the diet, during food restriction, on these processes. The hypotheses tested were that the protein:energy ratio of the diet during restriction to constant liveweight (LW) influences the relative proportions of the components of the digestive tract and its overall size as a proportion of empty body weight (EBW) a) during restriction and b) during subsequent growth on realimentation.

Type
Sheep Production
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1990

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References

Murray, D.M. and Slezacek, O. 1988. The effect of weight stasis on the non-carcass components of crossbred sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research. 39:653658 Google Scholar
Wilson, P.N. and Osbourn, D.F. 1960. Compensatory growth after undernutrition in mammals and birds. Biological Reviews, 35:324-363.Google Scholar
Winter, W.H., Tulloh, N.M. and Murray, D.M. 1976. The effect of compensatory growth in sheep on empty body weight, carcass weight and the weight of some offals. Journal of Agricultural Science (Cambridge), 87:43344l.Google Scholar