Effect of ruminally protected methionine on body weight gain and growth of antlers in red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the

humid tropics Paula Mendoza-Nazar, Germn David Mendoza-Martnez, Jos Herrera-Haro, Benigno Ruiz-Sesma, Ricardo BrcenaGama & Luis Tarango-Armbula
Tropical Animal Health and Production ISSN 0049-4747 Trop Anim Health Prod DOI 10.1007/s11250-011-9956-4

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Trop Anim Health Prod DOI 10.1007/s11250-011-9956-4

BRIEF COMMUNICA TION

Effect of ruminally protected methionine on body weight gain and growth of antlers in red deer (Cervus elaphus) in the humid tropics
Paula Mendoza-Nazar & Germn David Mendoza-Martnez & Jos Herrera-Haro & Benigno Ruiz-Sesma & Ricardo Brcena-Gama & Luis Tarango-Armbula

Accepted: 8 August 2011 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V . 2011

Abstract Sixteen male red deer (Cervus elaphus), with an initial weight of 93.834.38 kg were used to study the effect of the dietary level of ruminally protected methionine (RPM) on growth, antler morphometry and serum metabolites. The deer were allowed to graze and were individually supplemented with concentrate to provide 0, 2.5, 3.5 or 4.5 g/day of RPM for 65 days. There was a quadratic effect on daily weight gain (0.163, 0.098, 0.147 and 0.172 kg/ day; P <0.005) and antler beam length (59.7, 63.6, 63.0 and 57.2 cm; P <0.02) for RPM levels of 0 to 4.5 g/day, respectively. The brow tine length and the number of points were similar across all treatments. Serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) was reduced (quadratic effect; P < 0.02; 22.0, 29.6, 18.0 and 17.8 IU/l) to RPM levels of 0 to 4.5 g/day, respectively, whereas other metabolites (glucose, cholesterol, urea, creatinine, total protein and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase [SGOT]) were unchanged. Increasing the RPM dose did not affect weight
P . Mendoza-Nazar : B. Ruiz-Sesma Facultad de Medicina V eterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autnoma de Chiapas, Carretera Ejido Emiliano Zapata, Km. 8, Tuxtla Gutirrez C.P . 29000 Chiapas, Mexico G. D. Mendoza-Martnez (*) Departamento de Produccin Agrcola y Animal, Universidad Autnoma, Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Calzada del Hueso 1100, Col. Villa Quietud, Coyoacn, C.P . 04965 Mexico, Mexico e-mail: gmendoza@correo.xoc.uam.mx J. Herrera-Haro : R. Brcena-Gama : L. Tarango-Armbula Programa de Ganadera, Colegio de Postgraduados, Carretera Mxico-Texcoco, Km. 36.5, C.P . 56230 Montecillo, Estado de Mxico, Mexico

gain or antler growth. Methionine supplementation reduced the activity of SGPT. Keywords Cervus elaphus . Red deer . Methionine . Antler . Gain

Introduction Red deer are an important big game animal and are raised on farms worldwide including the Mexican tropics. The NRC (2007) provides estimates of metabolizable protein requirement for growth and for antler growth. The importance of certain amino acids has been recognised, but the required amounts of these compounds for red deer have not been determined, and experimental research is scarce. Methionine and lysine have been recognised as the first limiting amino acids for growth in ruminants (Kung and Rode 1996). Methionine is an essential amino acid and is required for growth and development in young ruminants (NRC 2007). Methionine is a sulphur-containing amino acid and is an important methyl donor. Methylation is a key step in the biosynthesis of DNA, RNA, phospholipids and proteins (Brosnan et al. 2007). Antler growth has been related to mineral nutrition and to early growth in red deer (Landete-Castillejos et al. 2007). However, antlers can be considered as entirely bony structures that have a significant proportion (43.6%) of organic matter (Dobrowolska 2002). Methionine is considered the first limiting amino acid for domestic ruminants (Klemesrud et al. 2000). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the supplementation of ruminally protected methionine (RPM) on body weight gain, antler growth and certain serum metabolites in red deer.

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Trop Anim Health Prod Table 1 Effects of methionine supplementation on weight gain and antler morphometry of red deer Ruminally protected methionine (g deer1 day1) 0 Initial BW (kg) Total gain (kg) ADG (kg) Antler beam length (cm) Brow tine length (cm) Number of points 93.05 10.95ab 0.163ab 59.75 21.62 8.5 2.5 94.08 6.58b 0.098b 63.63 17.62 7.0 3.5 93.6a 9.88ab 0.147ab 63.0 18.0 8.5 4.5 94.6 11.53 0.172 57.25 15.88 6.5 SEM 4.38 1.04 0.01 3.20 2.15 1.18 V ariable Linear Quadratic

ADG average daily gain, SEM standard error of the mean

ab Means with different superscripts differ at P <0.05

0.84 0.84 0.54 0.50 0.29

0.005 0.005 0.02 0.41 0.61

Materials and methods The study was conducted from April 20 through June 25, 2007, during the dry season at the Grazing Research Deer Unit Tantankin of the Fideicomisos Instituidos con Relacin a la Agricultura, Y ucatn State, Mxico, which is located at 1938 and 2009N and 8859 and 8914W, 36 m above sea level. The climate is warm and subhumid, with summer rains. The average rainfall and temperature are 1,100 mm and 25.8C, respectively. Sixteen male red deer (Cervus elaphus) with an initial weight of 93.834.38 kg and an initial age of 2.8 years were randomly assigned to four treatments (in groups of four deer each) to receive a concentrate providing 0, 2.5, 3.5 or 4.5 g/day of RPM (Mepron M85, Degussa-Hlls). The animals were adapted to the concentrate during a 15day period, and the experiment lasted 50 days. The concentrate was offered in individual feeders at a fixed amount of 900 g/day (11.9% CP and 3.03.12 Mcal ME/kg DM) and was compounded with ground corn (77%), cane molasses (10%), soybean meal (10%) and minerals (3%). The deer were allowed to graze in a 1-ha irrigated sward of Brachiaria spp. divided into two paddocks. The data recorded at the beginning and end of the trial included the antler beam length, the brow tine length and the number of points, as described by Azorit et al. (2002). The weight of the deer was also recorded. Samples of

jugular blood were collected with vacuum tubes from all of the deer at the end of the experiment. The deer were previously immobilised with 10% xylazine at 1.2 mg/kg body weight (Clemente et al. 2005). The serum was separated by centrifugation of clotted blood samples and refrigerated until analysis. Glucose, cholesterol, urea, creatinine, serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) and total proteins (TP) were determined with a spectrophotometer (Thermospectronic Genesys 20, Madison, WI) using the procedures described by Coles (1989). The plasma was analysed for TP by the Biuret method, according to Gornall et al. (1949). The data were analysed according to a completely randomised layout (four deer per treatment). The analysis used the mixed procedure of SAS (2002) to test the linear and quadratic effects of the methionine level. Treatment means were compared using the Tukey test at P <0.05.

Results Weight gain and accumulated weight (Table 1) showed reductions at intermediate levels of supplemented methionine (quadratic effect, P <0.0005). Antler beam length showed a quadratic response (P <0.02), but other variables showed no response to the amino acid supply (Table 1). The

Table 2 Effects of methionine supplementation on the serum metabolites of red deer

V ariable

Ruminally protected methionine (g deer1 day1) 0 2.5 140.25 76.25 45.25 1.40 7.03 29.58b 34.08 3.5 132.25 72.50 45.50 1.40 8.10 18.08a 26.45 4.5 131.25 82.50 50.50 1.60 8.20 17.85a 31.40 SEM 15.22 9.11 4.07 0.17 0.66 2.54 4.6

Linear

Quadratic

SGPT serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase, SGOT serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, SEM standard error of the mean
ab

Means with different superscripts differ at P <0.05

Glucose (mg/dl) Cholesterol (mg/dl) Urea (mg/dl) Creatinine (mg/dl) Total protein (g/dl) SGPT (IU/l) SGOT (IU/l)

119.5 68.75 45.75 1.50 7.58 22.08ab 36.43

0.55 0.37 0.53 0.84 0.45 0.17 0.26

0.50 0.83 0.44 0.38 0.38 0.02 0.77

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Trop Anim Health Prod

only blood metabolite that decreased in response to methionine supplementation (quadratic effect P <0.02) was SGPT (Table 2).

Discussion No studies of protected amino acids in red deer have been reported, and nutritional methionine and lysine requirements have not been estimated for this species (NRC 2007). Some grazing experiments with cattle have shown positive responses of the growth of steer to the dietary addition of RPM (Gomez et al. 2011), whereas other studies have shown no effect (Liker et al. 2006) at doses of 10 g/day. The reason that the intermediate dose decreased weight gain in this experiment is unclear, but the possibility that deer respond to higher doses than those used in this experiment should not be excluded. The diet used in this experiment met the nutritional requirements for the growth of deer weighing 100 kg (NRC 2007). Antler size and horn growth in red deer are affected by environmental factors (Mysterud et al. 2005), age and body mass (V anp et al. 2007). The genetic potential for antler growth can be expressed according to environmental factors, including habitat quality and nutrition (Mysterud et al. 2005). Protein nutrition could have an impact on antler growth. The organic matter of the horn (Dobrowolska 2002) contains high concentrations of protein (4969%), collagen (1030%) and glucosaminoglycans (0.24.6) (Sunwoo et al. 1995). The synthesis of these compounds could be affected by the amino acid supply. Blood metabolites related to energy and protein metabolism showed no change as a result of methionine supplementation. Similar results have been observed for blood glucose and urea in dairy cows fed RPM (Blum et al. 1999). The values of glucose, cholesterol, urea, creatinine and TP in this experiment were similar to those previously reported for red deer (Topal et al. 2010). There was a trend to increase blood cholesterol by increasing the dose of methionine. Experiments with rats have shown that methionine supplementation increases plasma cholesterol concentration enhancing hepatic cholesterol synthesis (Hirche et al. 2006). Increases in hepatic enzyme values generally indicate liver damage, but they may also indicate changes in protein metabolism. For example, in an experiment with lambs, the SGTP levels increased when the lambs were fed with protein (soybean) compared with non-protein nitrogen (urea) (Prior et al. 1969). The lower activity of this enzyme observed as a result of methionine supplementation could indicate a lower level of mobilisation of amino acids for glucose synthesis in muscle. Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, also called alanine aminotransferase, plays

an important role in the alanine cycle (Felig 1973). In the absence of any pathological conditions, concentrations of SGPT and SGOT in red deer are similar between the sexes or between deer aged 38 months and those that are older (Wilson and Pauli 1983). Increasing the RPM dose did not affect gain or antler growth in red deer. The only notable effect observed was that the values of SGPT were reduced by methionine supplementation. Further research is needed to elucidate if higher doses of methionine may affect body weight gain and growth of antlers.
Acknowledgements We sincerely thank the director and the technical staff of the Centro de Desarrollo Tecnolgico de FIRA, Tantakin. We also thank Degussa-Hlls Mexico for the donation of the amino acid for this study. This experiment was sponsored in part by research line 11 from the Colegio de Postgraduados. We also extend our thanks also to Juan A. Rivera-Lorca and Laura Ramrez-Cancino for their support as we conducted this experiment.

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