[Water and food ingestion in the young rabbit given food deficient in methionine or lysine and drinking by free choice a solution of that amino acid or pure water].
In a first trial, 21 five-week old rabbits housed in individual cages were divided into 3 experimental lots. All of them received the same lysine-deficient pelleted diet but lot 1 drank pure water only, lot 2 had a free choice between a solution of l-lysine (1.6 g/l) or pure water, and lot 3 drank l-lysine only. The trial lasted 24 days. The growth of lot 1 rabbits was significantly lower than that of lot 3 rabbits. The performance of lot 2 animals was intermediate but quite similar to that of lot 3. The lot 2 animals drank significantly more of the lysine solution than pure water (56 vs 44 p. 100). In a second trial, 60 five-week old rabbits housed 5 to a cage were divided into 4 lots. Lot 1 received a sulphur amino acid (AAS)-deficient diet + pure water, lot 2 a balanced diet + pure water, lot 3 the deficient diet + pure water and a solution of dl-methionine (1 g/l), and lot 4 the deficient diet + pure water + another dl-methionine solution (3 g/l). The trial lasted 19 days. Lot 2 showed improved growth due to the intake of the better AAS balanced diet. Lot 3 and 4 rabbits had intermediate growth which approached that of lot 2 animals as the methionine concentration in the solution increased. In both cases, the rabbits preferred the methionine solution to the pure water: 77 p. 100 in lot 3 (1 g/l) and 60 p. 100 in lot 4 (3 g/l). In conclusion, when the diet was deficient in AAS or in lysine and there was a free choice between either pure water or a solution of the deficient amino acid, the rabbits preferred the solution.
D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D004326:Drinking; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D008239:Lysine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000172:deficiency*; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000172:deficiency*; D011817:Rabbits / Q000502:physiology*; D012996:Solutions
D012996:Solutions; D008715:Methionine; D008239:Lysine
Ingestion d'eau et d'aliment chez le jeune lapin disposant d'un aliment carencé en méthionine ou en lysine et pour boisson, en libre choix, d'une solution de cet acide aminé ou d'eau pure.