Utilization of milk energy by suckling mink kits

Abstract

A total of 36 mink dams and their litters of 3, 6 or 9 kits were used for determination of milk intake of the suckling young by means of deuterium dilution technique, and chemical composition of milk and of kit bodies. Measurements were performed during lactation weeks 1-4, each week with 3 dams with each litter size. Milk intake was determined over a 48 h measurement period, and by the end of this milk samples were collected and 2 kits (litters of 6 and 9) or 1 kit per litter (litters of 3) were killed for body chemical composition. Based on the results, different models were applied for calculation of the energetic efficiency of milk. Dam milk yield increased steadily from week 1 until week 3 but only slightly from week 3 to 4. The increase declined with increasing litter size, and for dams suckling 9 kits the increment from week 3 to week 4 was only 2 g. The dry matter content of milk increased significantly as lactation progressed, being reflected in crude protein increasing from 6.9% in lactation week 1 to 8.1% in week 4. Milk fat increased concomitantly from 5.6% to 8.0%. In kit bodies, crude protein content increased from 9.4% in week 1 to about 12% in weeks 3 and 4. Body fat content increased from week 1 (4.1%) to week 3 (8.4%) and then declined in week 4 (7.1%). Animals suckled in litters of 3 kits had the highest milk intake and live weight and kits suckled in litters of 9 had the lowest milk intake, live weight and daily gain. In terms of milk intake per g gain kits in litters of 6 were the most efficient, with 4.1 g milk per g body gain. The metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance (MEm) was estimated to 448 kJ/kg(0.75 and the efficiency of utilization of ME for body gain (kg) to 0.67, the estimates being higher (MEm) or in good agreement with previous findings (kg) in suckling mink kits.

A first estimate of the amino acid requirement for milk production of the high‐producing female mink (Mustela vison)

“…Another important condition to consider is whether milk composition was affected by dietary interventions. In the present study, dry matter and fat contents of milk increased during lactation, as previously found in mink (Olesen et al., 1992; Fink et al., 2001,2004; Tauson et al., 2004), cats (Dobenecker et al., 1998) and mice (Knight et al., 1986). However, the chemical composition of milk was not significantly affected by dietary treatment and milk yield, corresponding to results in foxes (Rusanen and Valtonen, 1991; Ahlstrøm, 1992), dogs (Scantlebury et al., 2000) and pigs (Auldist et al., 1998).…”

“…The estimate of MEm by using milk intake per g body gain and recalculation to ME intake gave an estimate of 458 kJ/kg 0.75 , which is higher than our previous estimate of 356 kJ/kg 0.75 (Fink et al., 2001) and estimates for suckling kittens (356 kJ/kg 0.75 , Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000), and dog puppies (334 kJ/kg 0.75 , Mundt et al., 1981) but in good agreement with more recent results in mink (448 kJ/kg 0.75 , Tauson et al., 2004; and 456 kJ/kg 0.75 , own unpublished results). Utilisation of milk for body gain gave a k g value of 0.71 which is in close agreement with results in suckling pigs (Lawrence and Fowler, 1997), kittens (Hendriks and Wamberg, 2000) and mink (Tauson et al., 2004) in which k g ‐values of 0.65, 0.71 and 0.67, respectively, have been reported.…”

“…In milk samples, fat was analysed by a method slightly modified from Baverstock et al. (1976), for details see Tauson et al. (2004), and GE was calculated by use of the data for milk composition and the energy factors (in kJ/g): protein (23.9), fat (39.8) and carbohydrates (17.6).…”

Effects of substitution of dietary protein with carbohydrate on lactation performance in the mink (<i>Mustela vison</i>)

“…Fat in diets and faeces was determined by petroleum ether extraction after HC1 hydrolysis, and gross energy (GE) by use of an adiabatic bomb calorimeter. In milk samples, fat was analysed by a method slightly modified from Baverstock et al (1976) as described by Tauson et al (2004), and GE was calculated by use of the data for milk composition and the energy factors (in kJ/g): protein (23.9), fat (39.8) and carbohydrates (17.6). In all samples, contents of carbohydrates (CHO) were calculated by difference (CHO = DM -ash -CP -fat).…”

Chemical and amino acid composition of colostrum and mature milk differ only slightly in mink (Mustela vison)

“…Olesen et al. (1992) and Tauson et al. (2004) found no change in the protein content, whereas Fink et al.…”