Relationship of feed intake with cystine availability and wool growth in Merino wethers

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to characterize the relationship between nutrient supply and the rate of wool growth. We concentrated on the accepted view that the rate of wool growth in Merino sheep is primarily limited by the availability of sulfur amino acids, which are largely determined by diet intake and its interaction with microbial fermentation in the reticulo-rumen. In the first experiment, the effects of variable intakes of two diets (one including 10% fishmeal) by sheep on the rate of irreversible loss of cystine and plasma cystine concentration were investigated. Nitrogen intake (N) was positively and linearly related to both the irreversible loss rate and the plasma concentration of cystine, with no effects of diet per se. In the second experiment, the same dietary treatments were imposed on 39 wethers for 16 weeks following an 8 week pre-experimental period. The monthly rates of wool growth, average fibre diameter and sulfur content of the wool were measured and related to various components of intake. The rate of wool growth responded in a positive curvilinear decreasing manner to changes in intake, the response requiring 2 months to stabilize. There was no significant effect of diet when daily intake was expressed as g N kg-0.75 liveweight. Including the covariate (wool growth when fed the standard diet), the quadratic linear model accounted for 90% of the total variation in wool growth. Responses in fibre diameter and its variation, and wool sulfur content were similar to those of wool growth, in that they were positive and did not equilibrate quickly. A saturation kinetics model of the relationship between daily N intake (g N kg 0.75 liveweight) and wool growth accounted for a similar proportion of the variation as did a linear (with quadratic term) model without the covariate. It is concluded that the saturation kinetics model may be useful for more comprehensive comparisons of both the genetic potential and the sensitivity of wool growth to environmental changes.