Effects of a short-term feed restriction on growth performance, blood metabolites and hepatic IGF-1 levels in growing rabbits

Abstract

A total of 144 weaned hybrid HYLA rabbits (40-day-old) were randomly divided into 4 groups, to investigate the effects of the intensity of one week's feed restriction on short-and medium-term growth performance, blood metabolites and hepatic IGF-1 in growing rabbits. Restricted groups were fed with 30% (Group L30), 50% (Group L50) 70% (Group L70) of ad libitum feeding for 1 wk and then fed ad libitum until the end of the experiment (75 d of age). The control group (Group AL) was fed ad libitum throughout the experiment. Total feed intake (-15.8%) and feed conversion ratio (-13.2%) were lower in the L50 than in the AL group (P<0.05), but no difference was found between the L30, L70 and AL groups (P>0.05) for these parameters. Total weight gain did not significantly differ among the 4 experimental groups (38.5 g/d; P>0.05). At the end of the feed restriction period, the total serum protein level (P=0.01) was higher in restricted rabbits than AL rabbits (P<0.01), while the hepatic IGF-1 level was lower in L30 and L50 groups than in the 2 other groups (P<0.001). However, no difference remained between groups at the end of the experiment. In contrast, calcium, triglycerides, alkaline phosphatase, urea nitrogen and total cholesterol levels were similar between groups (P>0.05) throughout the experiment. In conclusion, a short-term feed restriction improves feed conversion ratio in a lasting way, transiently alters serum protein and IFG-1 levels and leads to compensatory growth in growing rabbits.

Nutritional Metabolites as Biomarkers of Previous Feed Intake in European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus): Applications on Conservation

“…+10%; p < 0.05 of all tested diets) PUN levels that animals fed under ad libitum conditions [ 44 ]. Similar trends ( p = 0.051) were observed in other works [ 45 ]. In general terms, this metabolic alteration could be explained as a catabolism caused by the absence of ingestion, prior to the time of blood extraction.…”

Effect of feed restriction on the environmental variability of birth weight in divergently selected lines of mice

“…Feeding practices such as restricted feeding are known to affect physiological and productive traits in growing rabbits [18, 19, 32]. Lu et al [33] reported that, after returning to ad libitum feeding, feed-restricted animals can show compensatory growth [34, 35], increased nutrient digestibility [16, 36], and increased feed conversion rate [37]. This compensatory growth depends on the duration, level, and pattern of feed restriction [16, 17, 36, 38].…”