Seasonal variation of food intake and digestibility of Yeso sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis)
2003
Kunisige, K. (Hokkaido. Animal Research Center, Shintoku (Japan)) | Tokari, T.
Seasonal variations in food intake and digestibility in Yeso sika deer were examined. In this experiment, Yeso sika deer were provided with either timothy hay (hay feeding) or a combination of formula feed and timothy hay (combination feeding). Food intake increased in the fall compared with summer. The seasonal variation in winter was represented by a significant decrease (P<0.05) in comparison with fall. There was a 54% decrease in hay feeding and 56% decrease in combination feeding. Dry matter digestibility in winter with hay feeding was significantly lower (P<0.05) than that in summer. With regard to digestibility of components, digestibility of crude protein in winter was significantly higher (P<0.05) than in spring and summer, and that of crude fat and crude fiber in summer was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that in winter and spring. In winter, dry matter digestibility of combination feeding was also significantly lower (P<0.05) than in summer (63.4+-1.8% vs 68.8+-1.0). As for digestibility of components, that of crude protein was higher in fall and winter than in summer and spring (P<0.05). However, digestibility of crude fat and crude fiber was higher in summer than in winter (P<0.05). These results suggest that the digestive function of Yeso sika deer is affected by the seasons. Although with hay feeding, dry matter digestibility, crude fiber digestibility and total digestible nutrient content were a little low, there was not a large difference in those values for combination feeding of Yeso sika deer in comparison with sheep. From these results, the digestive ability of Yeso sika deer is suggested to be almost equivalent to that of sheep.
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