Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:28:41.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The prediction of body composition in live ewes in early lactation from live weight and estimates of gut contents and total body water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

R. T. Cowan ,
J. J. Robinson ,
I. McHattie  and
C. Fraser
R. T. Cowan
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB
J. J. Robinson
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB
I. McHattie
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB
C. Fraser
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The efficacy of estimates of gut contents and total body water in increasing the precision with which the chemical composition of the body could be estimated in early lactation was evaluated in 36 Finnish Landrace × Dorset Horn ewes. The ewes were fed at two levels in pregnancy, and, in lactation, given diets of two metabolizable energy concentrations.

The allometric relationships relating weight of chemical fat and protein to emptybody weight were not affected by treatment or stage of lactation. Inclusion of an index of gut contents, based on dry-matter intake, indigestibility and retention time of food residues, together with live weight in a regression equation predicting weight of body fat, only slightly increased the precision of estimate compared with equations using live weight alone.

There was a close negative relationship between the proportions of water and fat in live weight. Inclusion of weight of body water with live weight in a regression equation predicting weight of body fat markedly increased the precision of estimate and the residual error (0·81 kg) was similar at different stages of lactation. However, when deuterium oxide space was used instead of body water there was only a small increase in precision of estimate and the residual error varied from 5·3 kg in early lactation to 2·1 kg in mid-lactation. The relationship between deuterium oxide space and body water was shown to be variable and altered by stage of lactation, and these differences were associated with differences in rate of water turnover in the animal's body.

It is concluded that estimates of body water are unsuitable for estimating weight of body fat in early lactation.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 95 , Issue 3 , December 1980 , pp. 515 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Balch, C. C. & Campling, R. C. (1969). Voluntary intake of food. In Handbuch der Tierernährung (ed. Lenkeit, W., Breirem, W. and Crasemann, E.), pp. 554–579. Hamburg: Verlag Paul Parey.Google Scholar
Benedict, F. G. & Ritzman, E. G. (1927). The metabolism of the fasting steer. Carnegie Iiistitute of Washington, Publication No. 377.Google Scholar
Burton, J. H., Anderson, M. & Reid, J. T. (1974). Some biological aspects of partial starvation. The effect of weight loss and regrowth on body composition in sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 32, 515–527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cowan, R. T., Robinson, J. J., Greenhalgh, J. F. D. & McHattie, I. (1979). Body composition changes in lactating ewes estimated by serial slaughter and deuterium dilution. Animal Production 29, 81–90.Google Scholar
Cowan, R. T., Robinson, J. J., McDonald, I. & Smart, R. (1980). Effects of body fatness at lambing and diet in lactation on body tissue loss, feed intake and milk yield of ewes in early lactation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 95, 497–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chabtree, R. M. (1976). Studies of the body composition of beef cattle as affected by type of food and the efficiency of energy utilization. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. R. & Freer, M. (1974). Prediction of body composition in live sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 25, 825–834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flatt, W. P., Moore, L. A., Hooven, N. W. & Plowman, R. D. (1965). Energy metabolism studies with a high producing dairy cow. Journal of Dairy Science 48, 797.Google Scholar
Foot, J. Z. & Greenhalgh, J. F. D. (1970). The use of deuterium oxide spoco to determine the amount of body fat in pregnant Blackface ewes. British Journal of Nutrition 24, 815–825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houseman, R. A. (1972). Studies of methods of estimating body composition in the living pig. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Houseman, R. A., Robinson, J. J. & Fraser, C. (1978). The estimation of body water and fat in pregnant ewes using deuterium oxide. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 37, 64A.Google ScholarPubMed
Lodge, G. A. & Heaney, D. P. (1973). Energy cost of pregnancy in single and twin bearing ewes. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 53, 479–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McManus, W. R., Prichard, R. K., Baker, C. & Petruchenia, M. V. (1969). Estimation of water content by tritium dilution of animals subjected to rapid live-weight changes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 72, 31–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panaretto, B. A. (1963). Body composition in vivo. III. The composition of living ruminants and its relation to the tritiated water spaces. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 14, 944–952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, J. T., Bensadoun, A., Bull, L. S., Burton, J. H., Gleeson, P. A., Han, I. K., Joo, Y. D., Johnson, D. E., McManus, W. R., Paladines, O. L., Stroud, J. W., Tyrrell, H. F., Van Neikerk, B. D. H. & Wellington, G. W. (1968). Some peculiarities in body composition of animals. In Body Composition of Animals and Man (ed. Reid, J. T.), pp. 19–44. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences Publication 1598.Google Scholar
Robelin, J. (1977). In vivo prediction of lamb body composition using heavy water space. Annales de Biologie Animale, Biochimie, Biophysique 17, 95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, T. W. (1970 a). Body composition in lambs and young sheep and its prediction in vivo from tritiated water space and body weight. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 74, 357–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, T. W. (1970 b). Prediction of body composition of sheep from tritiated water space and body weight – tests of published equations. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75, 497–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. S. W. & Sykes, A. R. (1974). The effect of route of dosing and method of estimation of tritiated water space on the determination of total body water and the prediction of body fat in sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 82, 105–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sykes, A. R. (1974). The prediction of the body composition of hill sheep from body weight, red cell volume and tritiated water space. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 82, 269–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, R. F., Hood, R. L., Jones, P. N. & Re, V. M. (1979). Compensatory growth in sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 30, 135–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trigg, T. E. (1974). Body composition of ruminants in relation to plane of nutrition and production. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Trigg, T. E., Domingo, E. A. & Topps, J. H. (1979). A comparison of three different isotopio methods for measuring body components of sheep. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 29, 1007–1016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulloh, N. M. (1963). Carcass composition of sheep, cattle and pigs as a function of body weight. In Symposium on Carcass Composition and Appraisal of Meat Animals (ed. Tribe, D. E.), pp. 5.1–30. Melbourne: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.Google Scholar