An experiment was carried out to examine the effects of low-protein diets supplemented with different levels of DL-methionine (Met) and Lysine (Lys) on growth performance and fur characteristics of growing-furring blue foxes in order to find the optimal dietary supplementation levels of Met and Lys. For two protein levels, conventional 27% (P27) and low 19% (P19), the measured protein contents of the diets were 271.2 and 189.4 g/kg on dry matter basis, respectively, and the low-protein diets were supplemented with Met (0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%) and Lys (0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%). An entirely random experimental design was adopted with two factors (3×3) and totally 10 groups (P27, L1M1, L1M2, L1M3, L2M1, L2M2, L2M3, L3M1, L3M2 and L3M3). From mid-September to pelting, based on the average daily gain, daily N retention, N retention ratio and the performance of blue foxes in different groups, 0.6% Met supplementation in low-protein diet was optimum; based on the daily N retention, N biological value and the quality of the fur, 0.3% and 0.5% Lys supplementation were optimum; based on the N apparent digestibility and daily N output, 0.3% Lys supplementation was optimum. No significant differences were observed in fur characteristics of blue foxes in all groups (P>0.05). In this experiment, the performance of blue foxes in L1M2 (0.3% Lys×0.6% Met) group was better than that in the other groups, which indicates that low-protein diets supplemented with DL-methionine and lysine for blue foxes can be beneficial to reduce feed expenses and nitrogen emission to the environment.
ZHANG Haihua,LI Guangyu,LIU Baiyang,REN Erjun,XING Xiumei,YANG Fuhe*,CHANG Zhongjuan,WU Qiong
. Effects of Low-protein, DL-methionine and Lysine-supplemented Diets on Growth Performance, N-balance and Fur Characteristics of Blue Foxes (Alopex lagopus) during the Growing-furring Period[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2010
, 22(06)
: 1614
-1624
.
DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2010.06.022