Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine and evaluate the protein and energy metabolism at different times of the day in Blackbelly x Pelibuey hair sheep during the rearing stage. The animals were under free grazing conditions in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region. We studied 9 ewes belonging to the flock of the Centre for Research, Postgraduate Studies and Conservation of Amazonian Biodiversity. They were reared under the same environmental, nutritional and management conditions. Serial samples were taken over 3 consecutive days at different times. A significant difference (p ≤ 0.5) was observed between the sampling days for glucose, urea and total proteins. In the sampling schedule, significant differences were found (p ≤ 0.5) for glucose. It can be concluded that both the day and the time of sampling affect the concentrations of protein and energy metabolites in Blackbelly x Pelibuey ewes reared under free grazing conditions in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region.
Highlights
The growing demand for food in today's world and the need to achieve sustainability in livestock production leads to the need for an adequate animal production system
One way to specify the planning of food management on a sheep farm is through nutritional monitoring of the herd, which is partly based on the use of metabolic profiles around critical nutritious periods
Glucose The means per day and per sampling hour are within the normal range, they are close to the lower limit of 44-81.2 mg/dl [10]
Summary
The growing demand for food in today's world and the need to achieve sustainability in livestock production leads to the need for an adequate animal production system. Metabolic profiles were designed in order for one to study the imbalances that may occur between input, bio-transformation and output of elements into the organism [2]. This helps one find out about and diagnose the nature of metabolic disorders and allows one to avoid or correct adverse situations that can generate large productive losses in a herd [3]. One way to specify the planning of food management on a sheep farm is through nutritional monitoring of the herd, which is partly based on the use of metabolic profiles around critical nutritious periods. Amongst the blood metabolites that best represent protein metabolism are total proteins, urea and albumin [5], given that blood proteins are synthesised mainly in the liver and that their rate of synthesis is directly related to the nutritional status of the animal
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