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Impact of Haemonchus contortus infection on feed intake, digestion, liveweight gain, and enteric methane emission from Red Maasai and Dorper sheep

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Title Impact of Haemonchus contortus infection on feed intake, digestion, liveweight gain, and enteric methane emission from Red Maasai and Dorper sheep
 
Creator Mwangi, Paul
Eckard, Richard
Gluecks, Ilona
Merbold, Lutz
Mulat, Daniel
Gakige, Jesse K.
Pinares-Patino, Cesar S.
Marquardt, Svenja
 
Subject feed intake
Haemonchus contortus
methane emission
animal health
sheep
Dorper
 
Description A study was conducted with Red Maasai and Dorper lambs to evaluate the effects of infection with the gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) Haemonchus contortus on feed intake, liveweight gain (LWG), feed energy and nitrogen partitioning, and enteric methane (CH4) emissions. Six- to seven-month-old Red Maasai (n=12) and Dorper (n=12) lambs were randomly allocated to three treatments (n=8, four lambs per breed) in a 2×3 factorial cross-over study over two periods (P1 and P2) of 36 days each. The treatments consisted of three combinations of GIN infection and feeding level: Infected + ad libitum feeding (I-adlib), uninfected + ad libitum feeding (Un-adlib), and uninfected + restricted feeding (Un-restd), across the two breeds. Lambs in the I-adlib group were trickle-infected daily with 1,000 L3 stage larvae of H. contortus for four consecutive days (Days 1–4), whereas lambs in the other experimental treatments were kept GIN free. The feed intake was measured daily. Liveweight (LW), faecal egg counts (FEC), and packed cell volume (PCV) were measured on Day 1 and weekly thereafter. On Days 29–33 total faecal and urine outputs were determined in metabolic crates. The lambs were then housed in respiration chambers for three consecutive days (Days 34–36). There was a washout period of 21 days before P2 started. Uninfected lambs (Un-adlib and Un-restd) had undetectable FEC throughout the study. On Day 36, FEC did not differ between the breeds (P>0.05). Infected lambs (I-adlib) had lower PCV than uninfected (Un-adlib and Un-restd) lambs on day 36. Neither breed nor infection influenced feed and nutrient intake, but as expected, restricted-fed lambs had a lower intake (P0.05). However, feed restriction decreased feed intake, LWG and N retention, whereas feed digestibility and energy metabolisability were unaffected. Neither daily CH4 emissions nor yield (per unit of feed intake) were affected by experimental infection, but Un-restd lambs had lower CH4 emissions per day. Red Maasai lambs had consistently lower daily CH4 emissions and yields than Dorper (P
 
Date 2023
2023-09-18T07:57:57Z
2023-09-18T07:57:57Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Mwangi, P.M., Eckard, R., Gluecks, I., Merbold, L., Mulat, D.G., Gakige, J., Pinares-Patino, C.S. and Marquardt, S. 2023. Impact of Haemonchus contortus infection on feed intake, digestion, liveweight gain, and enteric methane emission from Red Maasai and Dorper sheep. Frontiers in Animal Science 4:1212194.
2673-6225
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131874
https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2023.1212194
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Source Frontiers in Animal Science