Effect Of Inositol On Performance Of Raccoon Dogs

The effect of inositol on performance of Wusuli raccoon dogs in terms 0.5 weight gain, guard hair and silky fur growth, organic matter digestibility, pelt quality including hair and fur length, pelt weight, subcutaneous fat, carcass weight were investigated during growth and fur growth periods. Experiment 1Sixty raccoon dogs were used in the experiment and the experiment was conducted during fur growth period. Thirty were kept indoor and were divided into 5 groups of 6. Animals in each group were fed a basal diet and basal diet supplemented with 0.1, 0.2 0.5 and 1.0g /kg of Inositol(A0, Al, A2, A3 and A4). Another 30 were kept outdoor and also divided into 5 groups of 6.( B0, B1, B2, B3 and B4). The grouping and treatment were the same as animals kept indoor. The results showed that organic matter digestibility and pelt quality including guard hair and fur growth, weight and length of pelt, subcutaneous fat weight and carcass were not significantly affected by the treatments(p >0.05). Experiment 2Insulation effect of dried raccoon dog pelts from experiment 1 were test. Five hundred ml of distilled water held in plastic bottle was heated. Each bottle was put into the middle of the inside of pelt. And all the tested pelts were kept at the same environment for 2 hours. Then the water temperature was recorded. The results showed that the changes in temperature did not differ significantly between treatments(p> 0.05). Experiment 3Thirty growing raccoon dogs were divided into three groups of 10. Two animals were kept in one cage. Animals in one group were fed a basal diet and the animals in other two groups were fed basal diet supplemented with 0.2 and 0.3 g/kg of inositol for 120 days. A feed trial was conducted during August and the organic matter digestibility was determined during a 7 days period. The results showed that there were slight but not significant improvement in the organic matter digestion and pelt quality. Experiment 4The effects of inositol on litter size of raccoon dog was primarily tested. Ten standard replacement raccoons were fed basal diet and supplemented with 100 mg inositol each day for 15 d before mating. Ten replacement raccoon dogs were fed a basal diet suplemented with 100 mg of inositol at lest 15 d before mating. Litter size of experimental animals was compared with corresponding animals fed basal diets.The results showed that the litter size of raccoon dogs was significantly increased with the addition of inositol.