| The blood pheasant(Ithaginis cruentus)is a rare species of the moss-feeding birds(Phasianidae)which lives in the high-altitude cold regions.The female blood pheasant and their embryos have super cold resistance.Bryophyte contains a higher concentration of arachidonic acid(ARA),which can improve the cold-resistance of animals.This paper focused on the blood pheasant and its feeding bryophyte,which were collected from the Haizi Mountain,Batang,in the Western Sichuan Plateau.By comparing the various physiological index of the cold-resistance of blood pheasant with bryophyte,the relationship between the cold-resistance of blood pheasant and bryophyte was investigated.Firstly,to determine blood pheasant's food composition,the molecular ecology technology based on Operable Taxonomic Unit(OTU)was used to identify the species and the relative content of bryophyte in the feces of blood pheasant.It was shown that:(1)The plant containing the most food in blood pheasant was Liliopsida,with a relative abundance of 32.839%,and Bryopsida with a relative abundance of 15.192%;(2)Bryopsida was the overwhelming majority in bryophytes,and Thuidium was the most in the Bryopsida,with a relative abundance of 10.391%.With the consideration of the blood pheasant's habitat,Thuidium cymbifolium and Sanionia uncinata were selected to represent the most preferred and occasionally feeding bryophyte respectively.The bryophyte that the blood pheasant did not eat like Brachymenium exile and Campylopus schwarzii were used as a control group of the blood pheasant's feeding bryophyte.Pheasant(Phasianus colchicus)was used as a control group of the blood pheasant because that them doesn't eat bryophyte and has low cold-resistant than blood pheasant.Gas chromatography was used to determine fatty acids(FA)such as ARA in bryophyte,and the blood pheasant's muscle.The results showed that:(1)The contents of FA,polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFA),and ARA,in the female blood pheasant were significantly higher than those in the male blood pheasant;(2)Compared to pheasants,FA,PUFA and ARA were significantly higher in the blood pheasant;(3)The order of FA's content was that thuidium cymbifolium>sanionia uncinata>inedible moss;The order of PUFA's content was that thuidium cymbifolium>inedible moss>sanionia uncinata;The order of ARA's content and it's proportion of FA was that thuidium cymbifolium>sanionia uncinata>inedible moss.Among the results,the ARA's content of thuidium cymbifolium was significantly higher than that of inedible bryophyte(P<0.01).It shows that the cold-resistance of the birds may strengthen with the increase of ARA's concentration in their bodies,and the blood pheasant's preference for bryophyte,was positively correlated with the content of ARA in the bryophyte.Enzyme-linked immunoassay was used to determine other physiological indicators of cold-resistance.The results shown that:(1)the contents of calcium pump(Ca2+-ATPase)and calmodulin(CaM)in Blood pheasant' muscle were higher than that in Pheasant',also the prostaglandin E(PGE)and prostaglandin F2a(PGF2a)were lower than Pheasant'.Among the three species of bryophyte.(2)the content of Ca2+-ATPase(P<0.01)in Thuidium cymbifolium was the highest,moreover the PGE(P<0.01)and PGF2a(P<0.01)were the lowest;the contents of the PGE(P<0.01)and PGF2a(P<0.01)in inedible moss were the highest.Determination of amino acids in bryophytes was tested by liquid chromatography.The results showed that the total amino acids,essential amino acids,delicious amino acids,and the ratio of delicious amino acids to total amino acids of the thuidium cymbifolium were the lowest,indicating that there was no relationship between preference of the blood pheasant to bryophyte with the nutritional value of bryophyte as also as its palatability.The above results showed that the contents of many cold-resistant physiological indicators in Blood pheasant' muscle are consistent with that in Thuidium cymbifolium.Which indicating that the cold-resistance of Blood pheasant may be related to the moss which it fed.This article has significance for revealing the mechanism of the super cold-resistant ability of Blood pheasant embryos and further studying the cold-resistant mechanism of other animals. |
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