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Performance and ruminal and intestinal morphometry of Santa Inês sheep submitted to feed restriction and refeeding

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Abstract

A study was carried out to evaluate the performance and ruminal and intestinal morphology of Santa Inês sheep subjected to feed restriction followed by refeeding. A total of 40 uncastrated lambs with an approximate age of 120 ± 15 days and mean body weight (BW) of 17.04 ± 1.18 kg were randomly divided into two groups of BW (20 and 25 kg of BW), which were subjected to different levels of feed restriction (0%, 25%, and 40% of feed restriction). For performance variables, six treatments were considered (0, 25%, and 40% of feed restriction for both groups (20 and 25 kg of BW)) and five treatments for morphometric variables (ad libitum, 25% and 40% for both groups (20 and 25 kg of BW)). All animals were slaughtered with 14 weeks of experimentation. During the feed restriction phase, the dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency (FE), and average daily gain (ADG) decreased (P < 0.05) as the level of restriction increased. During the refeeding phase, lambs with 20 kg of body weight subjected to restriction presented lower (P < 0.05) DMI in the ad libitum treatment. However, lambs with 25 kg of body weight under feed restriction presented DMI, FE, and ADG similar (P > 0.05) to the group ad libitum. The final body weight of restricted lambs after refeeding (both groups 20 and 25 kg of body weight) was lower (P < 0.05) than lambs feed ad libitum. In relation to morphology, restricted lambs showed greater height ruminal papillae and larger (P < 0.05) area of ruminal absorption and intestinal absorption, especially the lambs under treatment 40% of feed restriction. The feed restriction followed by refeeding in sheep provided partial compensatory gain, in addition, caused morphological changes in the rumen and intestine that allowed greater absorption and possibly compensatory gain in periods of greater refeeding.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Federal University of Campina Grande and Federal University of Paraíba for their technical assistance.

Funding

This study was supported by CNPq and CAPES.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrated Graduate Program in Animal Science PPGIZ / UFPB, Areia, Paraíba, Brazil

    Hugo Batista Lima & Neila Lidiany Ribeiro

  2. Human, Social and Agrarian Sciences Center CCHSA / UFPB, Bananaeiras, Paraíba, Brazil

    Roberto Germano Costa & George Rodrigo Beltrão da Cruz

  3. Federal University of Piauí, Bom Jesus, Piauí, Brazil

    Tairon Pannunzio Dias-Silva

  4. Federal Rural University of Pernambuco UFRPE, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Francisco Fernandes Ramos de Carvalho

  5. Graduate Program in Animal Science CCA / UFPB, Areia, Paraíba, Brazil

    Ricardo Romão Guerra

  6. Agricultural Sciences Center CECA / UFAL, Rio Largo, Alagoas, Brazil

    José Teodorico de Araújo Filho

  7. Higher Agricultural School of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança ESA-IPB, Bragança, Portugal

    Alfredo J. Costa Teixeira

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  1. Hugo Batista Lima
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Contributions

Hugo Batista Lima: data curation, formal analyses, investigation, writing—original draft.

Roberto Germano Costa: conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review.

George Rodrigo Beltrão da Cruz: conceptualization, supervision, methodology.

Francisco Fernandes Ramos de Carvalho: conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition, methodology.

ricardo romão guerra: methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review.

Neila L. Ribeiro: formal analyses, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review.

José Teodorico de Araújo Filho: conceptualization, methodology.

Alfredo J. Costa Teixeira: conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition, methodology, writing—original draft, writing—review.

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Correspondence to Tairon Pannunzio Dias-Silva.

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This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Paraiba (UFPB), Brazil (protocol no. 2305/14).

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Lima, H.B., Costa, R.G., Dias-Silva, T.P. et al. Performance and ruminal and intestinal morphometry of Santa Inês sheep submitted to feed restriction and refeeding. Trop Anim Health Prod 54, 42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-022-03053-6

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