EFEITO DE DIFERENTES FONTES ENERGÉTICAS NA PREDISPOSIÇÃO PARA UROLITÍASE EM CABRITOS

Abstract

Six goats randomly divided into three groups were used in a 4 X 3 Youden Square design, using four distinct diets [control (C), citric pulp (CP), wheat meal (WM) and rice meal (RM)] in order to evaluate which diet will predispose the formation of uroliths. Serum calcium and phosphorous were determined, as well as urinary pH, density, calcium and phosphorous. The goats fed RM had the highest serum and urinary phosphorous values (5.34±1.71 and 156.9±85.5 mmol/L, respectively), while the animals that received CP had the lowest values for blood and urine phosphorous (2.29±0.36 and 2.02±1.24 mmol/L, respectively). The results of urine pH showed that CP diet caused alkaline urine (8.44±0.33), with higher values than WM and RM (6.27±0.29 and 6.37±0.54, respectively). The urine from one animal that received WM diet and from another that received RM diet presented triple phosphate crystals, while the urine from the goats receiving CP did not present any of these crystals. A determinant factor for crystal formation is the high phosphorous concentration in the urine. Acidic urine pH does not prevent the formation of crystals if urinary phosphorous concentrations are high. KEYWORDS: citrus pulp; goats; rice meal; urinary calculi; wheat meal.