Effects Of Dietary Pantothenic Acid Levels On Growth Performance, Antioxidant Indices And Lipid Metabolism Of Growing Rex Rabbits

The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on production performance, antioxidant indices and lipid metabolism of growing Rex rabbits by single factor experiment. Two hundred 3 month Rex rabbits with similar health conditions were randomly assigned to 5 groups with 40 replicates per group and 1 rabbit per replicate. Rabbits in 5 groups were fed with experimental diet with the following pantothenic acid levels: 0, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg,respectively.The trial begun in October 5, 2014, ended in December 5, 2014 and lasted for 7 days for adaptation and 53 days for test. The results showed as follows:(1) Effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on performancetrait: it had no significant influence on average daily gain(P>0.05), extremely significant influence on average daily feed intake(P<0.01), and significant influence on feed conversion ratio(P<0.05); had no significant influence on dressing percentage, half-eviscerated yield percentage, eviscerated yield percentage, p H within 45 minutes and meat lightness(L-value)(P>0.05), extremely significant influence on longissimus dorsi drip loss(P<0.01), and significant influence on meat red(a-value) and yellow(b-value)(P<0.05); had no significant influence on fur weight,leather thickness and primary hair follicle density(P>0.05), extremely significant influence on fur area, fur height, total hair follicle density and secondary hair follicle density(P<0.01),and significant influence on secondary hair follicle density/primary hair follicle density(P<0.05); had no significant influence on thymus, spleen and liver index(P>0.05).(2) Effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on plasma hormones: it had no significant influence on INS(P>0.05), extremely significant influence on MLT(P<0.01).(3) Effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on antioxidant indices: it had no significant influence on GSH and SOD(P>0.05), significantly reduced 8-iso-PGF2α content in plasma extremely(P<0.01), significantly reduced 8-iso-PGF2α and PC content in liver(P<0.05).(4) Effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on pantothenic acid metabolism: it significantly increased pantothenic acid content in plasma extremely(P<0.01), significantly increased pantothenic acid content in muscle(P<0.05).(5) Effects of dietary pantothenic acid levels on lipid metabolism: it had significant influence on scapular, perigastric and perirenal fat deposition rate(P<0.05); significantly reduced the volume and quantity of fat droplets; had no significant influence on GLU, TCHO,HDL, LDL of plasma(P>0.05), but reduced VLDL of plasma significantly(P<0.05),meanwhile had extremely significant influence on albumin(P<0.01); had no significant influence on PUFA/SFA, EFA and most of fatty acid(P>0.05), except significantly influenced palmitoleic acid(C16:1n-7)(P<0.05) and significantly influenced α-linoleic acid(C18:3n-3)extremely(P<0.01); had no significant influence on G6 PD, ACC, Apo B and LPL m RNA expression(P>0.05), while had significant influence on HSL and FATP4 m RNA expression(P<0.05), extremely significant influence on CPT1 m RNA expression(P<0.01).In conclusion, the appropriate dietary pantothenic acid supplemental levels are 20~40mg/kg for 3 to 5-month-old Rex Rabbits(dietary pantothenic acid measured content are27.32~48.80 mg/kg).