Intake and utilization of food by growing lambs with parasitic damage to the small intestine caused by daily dosing with Trichostrongylus colubriformis larvae

Abstract

SummaryFour groups of eight lambs, 4 months of age and reared parasite-free from birth, were used to investigate the effect of the intestinal parasite Trichostrongylus colubriformis on the intake and efficiency of utilization of food, using balance trial and comparative slaughter techniques. One group (CI) was killed initially as control. Two further groups (ALC and ALI) were offered ad libitum a complete ruminant diet. The ALI group was dosed orally each day for 14 weeks with 2500 infective larvae. Sheep in a further group (PF) were individually paired to members of the ALI group, and given the same amount of food as their pair. Balances of nitrogen, Ca and P and the digestibility of dry matter and energy were determined for the ALI and PF groups during weeks 6–7 and 12–13 and after 98 days of infection the sheep were killed. The bodies of these and the CI and ALC sheep were analysed for water, fat, nitrogen, Ca and P contents.Parasitism reduced food intake over the whole experiment by 9%, but had no effect on the digestibility of energy or nitrogen. At the first trial the N balances of the ALI group were inferior to those of the PF group due to increased urinary N excretion, but there was no difference at the second trial. Ca and P balances of the ALI group tended to be inferior to those of the PF group at both trials. The weight gain of the ALI sheep was only 50 % of that of the PF sheep with the same digestible energy and protein intakes. The protein content of the gain in empty body weight of the ALI sheep was 80 g/kg compared with 112 and 124g/kg in the ALC and PF groups, respectively. Possible causes of the poor protein anabolism are discussed.The gross efficiency of utilization of metabolizable energy for growth was calculated to be 13·3 % in the ALI sheep, compared with 26·2 and 24·2 % respectively, in the ALC and PF groups. It was not possible to determine whether this was due to change in maintenance requirement or in efficiency of fattening.The Ca and P content of the skeletons of the ALC and PF sheep increased by 55 % during the 98-day period, while no net change occurred in the ALI sheep. It was concluded that this was caused by an induced mineral deficiency resulting from parasitic damage in the small intestine.