Do Growing Rabbits with a High Growth Rate Require Diets with High Levels of Essential Amino Acids? A Choice-Feeding Trial

摘要

Two diets were designed to investigate the effect of the growth rate on amino acid requirements in growing rabbits: M diet (with medium levels of amino acids, following current nutritional recommendations for growing rabbits) and H diet (with high levels of lysine, sulphur amino acids and threonine compared with current nutritional recommendations). Performance, nutrient retention and digestibility (faecal and ileal) trials, as well as a choice-feeding test were conducted. We found no differences in animal performance, nutrient retention and digestibility parameters between diets, but the animals showed a preference for the M diet, expressed by a high intra-individual repeatability in preference. Our results provide useful information and nutrition tools to move towards precision protein nutrition in growing rabbits.