EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATED FEEDS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, BLOOD PROFILES AND
CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF DEZHOU DONKEYS
1College of Animal Science,
Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Equine Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction,
Equine Research Center, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018,
China
2College of Agronomy, Liaocheng University,
Shandong Engineering Technology Research Center for Efficient Breeding and
Ecological Feeding of Black Donkey, Shandong Donkey Industry Technology
Collaborative Innovation Center, Liaocheng 252059, Shandong Province, China
3National Engineering Research Center for
Gelatin-based Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dong-E-E-Jiao Co. Ltd., Dong-E
County 252201, Shandong Province, China
4Shandong Vocational Animal Science and
Veterinary College, East Shengli Street, Weifang 261061, China
5Faculty of Veterinary Science, University
of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Correspondence Author E-mail: ahrar1122@yahoo.com (AK); dmanglai@163.com (MDJ)
#These authors contributed equally to this article.
ABSTRACT
The nutritional requirements of donkeys
have not been studied well, therefore, donkeys are being fed according to the
horse nutritional plans in China. Keeping in mind the importance of the topic,
the best concentrate feed was searched among three different levels i.e., 1,
1.25 and 1.5% based on growth performance, blood profiles and carcass
characteristics. In this study, 30 male Dezhou donkeys (weight: 147.36±6.32 kg; age:210±10 days) were
randomly divided into 3 groups according to daily concentrate intake: 1.00%
(Group 1.00), 1.25% (Group 1.25) and 1.50% (Group 1.50) of live weight.
Roughage in the form of beanstalk was the only forage for all groups. On the
basis of their growth performance, blood parameters, carcass characteristics
and visceral indexes, we found that Group 1.50 and 1.25 showed higher average
body gain, body sides and carcass percentage (P≤0.05) than Group
1.00, the visceral indices and blood parameters showed no difference among 3
groups (P>0.05). Based on all the fundamental measurements, we could
draw a conclusion that concentrates at 1.25% of live weight level is the most
efficient quantity to feed Dezhou donkeys.
Keywords: Dezhou donkeys; Concentrate level; Carcass percentage;
Dressing percentage; Visceral
index.
https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2020.4.0095
Published online April 25, 2020 |