title: Effects of dietary electrolyte balance on growth performance, nitrogen metabolism and some blood biochemical parameters of growing rabbits.
abstract: The effects of different dietary electrolyte balance (DEB) on growth performance, nitrogen (N) metabolism and some blood biochemical parameters were investigated in 2 to 3 months old growing rabbits. A total of 150 growing rabbits of 2 months age were randomly divided into five groups according to average body weight, with 30 rabbits in each group. The DEB levels of the five experimental diets were -154, -3.16, +201, +347, and +500 meq/kg of dry matter (DM), respectively. There was a 7-d adaptation period and a 23-d experimental period. The results showed that the DEB levels had a quadratic affect on the average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p<0.001). The greatest ADFI was achieved when the DEB level was +201 meq/kg DM. Fecal N (FN) content linearly decreased (0.047), while digestible N (DN), retained N (RN), efficiency of intake N converted into digestible N (DN/IN) and the efficiency of intake N converted into retained N (RN/IN) linearly increased with the DEB increase (0.020, 0.004, 0.021, and 0.049, respectively). Serum phosphorus (P) ion content linearly increased with the DEB increase (p = 0.036). The DEB had a quadratic relationship with serum anion gap (AG) (p = 0.002) and serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) content (p = 0.016). The DEB levels quadratically affected base excess (BE) in the plasma (p<0.001). In conclusion, the DEB unaffected growth performance but affected feed intake, N metabolism and some blood biochemical parameters of growing rabbits.
authors: College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: J W
authors: JW
authors: Li
authors: College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: X P
authors: XP
authors: Wang
authors: College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: C Y
authors: CY
authors: Wang
authors: College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: Y L
authors: YL
authors: Zhu
authors: College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, 271018, China.
authors: F C
authors: FC
authors: Li
keywords: Blood Biochemical Parameters; Dietary Electrolyte Balance; Growing Rabbit; Growth Performance; Nitrogen Metabolism