The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of dietary electrolyte balance (DEB) on growth performance and blood physiological and biochemical indices of weanling to 2-month-old meat rabbits. A total of 200 weanling rabbits were allocated into 5 treatments with 40 replicates per treatment and 1 rabbit per replicate. Rabbits in 5 treatments were fed diets with different DEB levels (－150, 0, 200, 350 and 500 mEq/kg, respectively). There was a 7-day adaptation period and a 23-day experimental period. The results showed as follows: the DEB significantly affected the average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P<0.01) and average daily gain (ADG) (P<0.05), but did not significantly affect the feed/gain ratio (P>0.05). With the DEB value increasing (0 to 350 mEq/kg), the ADFI and ADG of meat rabbits were increased, but there was no significant difference between treatments 3 and 4 (P>0.05). The DEB did not significantly affected the plasma pH, HCO-3 concentration, arterial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2), oxygen partial pressure (PO2) and total carbon dioxide (TCO2) concentration (P>0.05), but significantly affected the base excess (BE) (P<0.01) and anion gap (AG) (P<0.05) Meanwhile, the BE in treatments 3, 4 and 5 was significantly higher than that in treatments 1 and 2 (P<0.05), and the AG in treatments 3 and 4 was significantly lower than that in treatment 2 (P<0.05). The concentrations of Na+, K+, Cl－, Ca2＋, and P5＋, and the contents of total protein (TP), creatinine (CREA), creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) in serum were not significantly affected by the DEB (P>0.05). The contents of glucose (GLU), urea nitrogen (UN), triglyceride (TG), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and total cholesterol (TCHO) in serum were significantly affected by the DEB (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Besides, lower contents of serum TG, TCHO and AKP and higher contents of serum GLU and UN were found in treatments 3 and 4. The serum methionine content in treatment 4 (DEB value was 350 mEq/kg) was significantly higher than that in the other treatments (P<0.05), and the contents of lysine, arginine and total amino acids in serum did not differ significantly among different treatments (P>0.05). In conclusion, in this experimental condition, the appropriate DEB values of weanling to 2-month-old growing meat rabbits were between 200 to 350 mEq/kg.［Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2011, 23（5）：755 -762］
LI Junwei，MA Mingwen，WANG Xuepeng，WANG Chunyang，LI Fuchang
. Effects of Dietary Electrolyte Balance on Growth Performance and Blood Physiological and Biochemical Indices of Weanling to 2-month-old Growing Meat Rabbits[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2011
, 23(05)
: 755
-762
.
DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2011.05.008
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