Confinement in metabolism pens may provoke a stress response in alpacas that will reduce the welfare of the animal and jeopardize the validity of scientific results obtained in such pens. In this study, we tested a protocol designed to successfully train alpacas to be held in a specially designed metabolism pen so that the animals' confinement would not jeopardize their welfare. We hypothesized that the alpacas would show fewer behaviors associated with a response to stress as training gradually progressed, and that they would adapt to being in the confinement of the metabolism pen. The training protocol was successful at introducing alpacas to the metabolism pens, and it did reduce the incidence of behavioral responses to stress as the training progressed. The success of the training protocol may be attributed to the progressive nature of the training, the tailoring of the protocol to suit alpacas, and the use of positive reinforcement. This study demonstrated that both animal welfare and the validity of the scientific outcomes could be maximized by the gradual training of experimental animals, thereby minimizing the stress imposed on the animals during experimental procedures.
Alpacas have evolved digestive and metabolic adaptations that enable them to survive in environments where the available feed varies in nutritional quality. Alpacas are thought to derive glucose from the deamination of amino acids in the liver, rather than via the conversion of propionate like true ruminants. Because fibre growth is dependent on the availability of absorbed amino acids, alpacas using amino acids as a source of energy should leave less amino acids available for fibre growth. If alpacas were to obtain glucose from a source of propionate, such as calcium propionate, the dependence on amino acids would be reduced leaving more available for fibre growth. Calcium propionate was added to the ration fed to 32 alpaca wethers, and fibre production was measured to monitor important fibre attributes in response to calcium propionate. Although the diets supplemented with calcium propionate should have provided more energy than the diets without calcium propionate, the metabolisable energy intake of all animals was similar (p = 0.278). It seems that rather than sparing amino acids, the alpacas regulated their energy intake and refused to consume the additional energy offered as calcium propionate. Consequently, they produced less fibre, and the diameter of their fibre was smaller than those alpacas that were not fed calcium propionate. It seems that alpacas rely on their digestive and metabolic adaptations to efficiently obtain and conserve energy for their survival.
There is evidence that alpacas derive most of their glucose for energy from the deamination of amino acids. Consequently, they may have an insufficient supply of amino acids to meet their requirements for fibre growth. To optimise fibre production, it may be necessary to supply alpacas with supplemental protein to meet their requirement for extra amino acids. In this study, we examined if the proportion of rumen-degradable dietary protein (RDP) to undegradable dietary protein (UDP) from canola meal influenced the fibre growth of alpacas. We hypothesised that alpacas fed at maintenance a diet containing canola meal protein high in UDP would produce more fibre and spend less time urinating than peers fed a similar amount of canola meal protein with a low proportion of UDP. Four groups of eight alpacas were fed diets with the following ratios of UDP : RDP: 0 : 100, 30 : 70, 60 : 40 or 100 : 0 from canola meal protein. The fibre growth of the animals was measured over 2 months and the behaviour of the animals in the two extreme groups (0 and 100% UDP) was measured over 5 days. The alpacas fed the 0% UDP diet produced fibre of finer diameter than the alpacas fed diets containing higher levels of UDP (P = 0.039) and the 0% UDP group also spent more time urinating (P = 0.027). This result suggests that alpacas may have a limited ability to recycle nitrogen to the fermentative chambers of their stomach when fed a diet low in UDP. Consequently, microbial protein synthesis in the fermentative chambers may have limited the supply of amino acids available to the alpacas.
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