A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden
Alpacas are held in South America mainly for wool production, but also for meat and leather production. South American Camelids, including alpacas, vicuñas, llamas and guanacos, are well adapted to the harsh environment during the dry season in South America. The efficiency of their digestive system...
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| Formato: | L3 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
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SLU/Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management (until 231231)
2007
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571987047383040 |
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| author | Folkesson, Pernilla |
| author_browse | Folkesson, Pernilla |
| author_facet | Folkesson, Pernilla |
| author_sort | Folkesson, Pernilla |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Alpacas are held in South America mainly for wool production, but also for meat and leather production. South American Camelids, including alpacas, vicuñas, llamas and guanacos, are well adapted to the harsh environment during the dry season in South America. The efficiency of their digestive system is particularly noticeable on high in fibre/low in protein diets.
The anatomy of the alpaca stomach is different from that of true ruminants as alpacas have three compartments instead of four. Alpacas also have unique mucosa producing epithelium of saccules in parts if their stomach. These saccules produces bicarbonate, which buffers pH to near neutral. The last compartment has the same function as both the omasum and the abomasum of true ruminants. The forestomach of alpacas have a higher concentration of volatile fatty acids than the forestomach of true ruminants. Contractions of the alpaca stomach are more continious than in true ruminants. This contributes to a thoroghly mixed and homogenous content.
Alpacas have a lower dry matter intake per kg body weight, and a slower passage rate of digesta, compared to true ruminants. The digestibility of high fibre forage is higher for alpacas than for true ruminants.
Few studies have been published on alpaca energy and nutrient requirements. Energy requirements have not been established for alpacas and recommendations for daily energy intake are based on studies on llamas. Recommended protein intake in alpacas is based on one nitrogen balance study performed on alpacas, while mineral and vitamin requirements are extrapolated from data on beef cattle, sheep and goats.
Alpacas has been exported from South America to other countries of the world since the beginning of the 1980's. The number of alpaca owners and breeders in Sweden has increased over the last twelve years, and today the alpaca population in Sweden is around 230-350 animals. A common opinion among alpaca owners is that forage with high energy and protein content and commercial concentrates and grain should be avoided. Because of the increasing alpaca popuation in Sweden, and other countries outside South America, it is important to increase the knowledge about alpaca nutrition.
A 55 day feeding trial was performed at an alpaca farm in the south of Sweden. Twenty-five females were included in the study, twelve of these had offspring and were lactating during the study. Daily feed intake, digestibility and body weight was recorded .
The average dry matter intake was 1.4 % of body weight for non-lactating females, and 1.8 % of body weight for lactating females. Energy intake was 0.14 and 0.18 MJ/kg body weight respectively. All the animals except the crias gained weight during the study. Only the lactating females showed a slight gain in body condition score. Lactating females had generally higher digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fibre, crude protein, organic matter and minerals than non-lactating females. There was no difference in wool micron numbers before and after the feeding trial for the females, but the crias had slightly higher values after the study. |
| format | L3 |
| id | RepoSLU12032 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2007 |
| publishDateSort | 2007 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management (until 231231) |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management (until 231231) |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU120322017-11-13T12:09:15Z A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden Alpacka : en utfodringsstudie i fält Folkesson, Pernilla alpaca feeding nutrition lactating females alpaca females crias Alpacas are held in South America mainly for wool production, but also for meat and leather production. South American Camelids, including alpacas, vicuñas, llamas and guanacos, are well adapted to the harsh environment during the dry season in South America. The efficiency of their digestive system is particularly noticeable on high in fibre/low in protein diets. The anatomy of the alpaca stomach is different from that of true ruminants as alpacas have three compartments instead of four. Alpacas also have unique mucosa producing epithelium of saccules in parts if their stomach. These saccules produces bicarbonate, which buffers pH to near neutral. The last compartment has the same function as both the omasum and the abomasum of true ruminants. The forestomach of alpacas have a higher concentration of volatile fatty acids than the forestomach of true ruminants. Contractions of the alpaca stomach are more continious than in true ruminants. This contributes to a thoroghly mixed and homogenous content. Alpacas have a lower dry matter intake per kg body weight, and a slower passage rate of digesta, compared to true ruminants. The digestibility of high fibre forage is higher for alpacas than for true ruminants. Few studies have been published on alpaca energy and nutrient requirements. Energy requirements have not been established for alpacas and recommendations for daily energy intake are based on studies on llamas. Recommended protein intake in alpacas is based on one nitrogen balance study performed on alpacas, while mineral and vitamin requirements are extrapolated from data on beef cattle, sheep and goats. Alpacas has been exported from South America to other countries of the world since the beginning of the 1980's. The number of alpaca owners and breeders in Sweden has increased over the last twelve years, and today the alpaca population in Sweden is around 230-350 animals. A common opinion among alpaca owners is that forage with high energy and protein content and commercial concentrates and grain should be avoided. Because of the increasing alpaca popuation in Sweden, and other countries outside South America, it is important to increase the knowledge about alpaca nutrition. A 55 day feeding trial was performed at an alpaca farm in the south of Sweden. Twenty-five females were included in the study, twelve of these had offspring and were lactating during the study. Daily feed intake, digestibility and body weight was recorded . The average dry matter intake was 1.4 % of body weight for non-lactating females, and 1.8 % of body weight for lactating females. Energy intake was 0.14 and 0.18 MJ/kg body weight respectively. All the animals except the crias gained weight during the study. Only the lactating females showed a slight gain in body condition score. Lactating females had generally higher digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fibre, crude protein, organic matter and minerals than non-lactating females. There was no difference in wool micron numbers before and after the feeding trial for the females, but the crias had slightly higher values after the study. Alpackan härstammar från Sydamerika, där den hålls i huvudsak som ullproducent, men också för kött och tillverkning av rep, mattor och prydnader av skinnen. Alpackan hör till familjen kameldjur och är ett partåigt hovdjur. Alpacka, vicuña, lama och guanaco är de inom familjen som härstammar från Sydamerika och kallas därför också för South American Camelids (SAC). Till familjen hör också den baktriska kamelen och dromedaren. SAC är anpassade för att tillgodogöra sig föda med högt fiberinnehåll, som de livnär sig på under torrperioden i Sydamerika. Men denna hårda tillvaro innebär också att många djur lider av undernäring, vilket påverkar ulltillväxten negativt, reproduktionsfunktionerna blir sämre, inklusive ökad földödlighet. Antalet alpackor och lamor utanför Sydamerika ökar sedan de började exporteras i början på 1980-talet. I nya miljöer utsätts djuren för andra former av djurhållning och nya fodermedel. Många alpackaägare är tveksamma till att utfodra sina djur med foder som har ett högt innehåll av protein och energi. Man är också rädd för att utfodra med kraftfoder, då magsår anses vara vanligt hos alpackor. Kunskapen om alpacka utfodring baseras idag till stor del på studier av lama eller extrapolerade värden från nötkreatur, får och getter. Det finns inga specifika studier på alpacka när det gäller energi-, mineral- eller vitaminbehov. Alpackan är en effektiv foderomvandlare, speciellt på foder med högt fiberinnehåll och lågt proteininnehåll. I jämförelse med nötkreatur, får och getter är alpackan också bättre på att återvinna kväve genom recirkulation av urea. Alpackan har en förmåga att lätt anpassa sig till nya miljöer, speciellt med avseende på altitud och temperatur. Kameldjur har till skillnad från de traditionella idisslarna, nötkreatur, får och get, endast tre avdelningar i magen. I de första två avdelningarna finns slemproducerande körtlar. Den sista avdelningen har samma funktioner som både bladmagen och löpmagen hos traditionella idisslare. Körtlarna i de första två avdelningarna producerar bikarbonat, som bidrar till att pH i förmagarna hålls närmre neutralt. Förutom sin buffrande verkan gör pH också att fibrer bryts ned effektivare, samt att de flyktiga fettsyrorna absorberas långsammare. I den här studien utfördes ett utfodringsförsök på en gård i södra Sverige under oktober till början av december 2006. Försöket pågick under 55 dagar och omfattade studier av foderintagskapacitet, smältbarhet och kroppsvikt. Djuren som ingick i försöket var tretton ston utan föl och tolv ston med sina respektive föl. Enligt litteraturen har alpackor ett torrsubstansintag på 1,25-1,5 % av kroppsvikten för underhållsbehov. Lakterande ston kan konsumera 2,0-2,75 % av kroppsvikten. I detta utfodringsförsök låg torrsubstansintaget på 1,4 % av kroppsvikten för icke-lakterande ston, respektive 1,8 % för lakterande ston. Energiintaget för icke-lakterande ston och lakterande ston var 0,14 MJ/kg kroppsvikt respektive 0,18 MJ/kg kroppsvikt, vilket är något lägre än de värden funnit tidigare i studier med lamor. Alla stona ökade i vikt under försöksperioden. Fölen ökade däremot inte alls i vikt. Endast de lakterande stona hade en liten ökning av hullpoäng under perioden. De lakterande stona hade också högre smältbarhetskoefficienter än de icke-lakterande stona, både när det gäller torrsubstans, NDF, råprotein, organisk substans och mineraler. SLU/Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management (until 231231) 2007 L3 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/12032/ |
| spellingShingle | alpaca feeding nutrition lactating females alpaca females crias Folkesson, Pernilla A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden |
| title | A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden |
| title_full | A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden |
| title_fullStr | A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden |
| title_full_unstemmed | A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden |
| title_short | A field study on feeding of Alpacas in Sweden |
| title_sort | field study on feeding of alpacas in sweden |
| topic | alpaca feeding nutrition lactating females alpaca females crias |