Energy requirements of growing small ruminants raised for meat production in contrasting climatic regions: a meta-analysis
Abstract
Abstract The objective of this meta-regression was to evaluate the influence of ruminant species, sex, and climatic regions on the metabolizable energy (ME) requirements for maintenance (MEm) and weight gain (MEg) in growing small ruminants raised for meat production across different climatic regions. Data included 655 and 337 treatment means from 173 and 99 studies on sheep and goats, respectively. Metabolizable energy intake (MEI; MJ/kg^0.75) was regressed against average daily gain (ADG; g/kg^0.75), with the study included as a random effect. The analysis found that MEm was not affected by species (P = 0.50), but MEg (MJ/g ADG) was significantly different between species (P = 0.02), with sheep requiring 0.032 (± 0.002) and goats 0.026 (± 0.002) MJ/g ADG. Sex did not affect MEm in either species (P ≥ 0.32). However, in goats, intact males had a greater MEg (P = 0.02) than females (0.030 ± 0.003 vs. 0.013 ± 0.006 MJ/g ADG). MEm was lower (P = 0.03) in small ruminants raised in subtropical regions (0.497 ± 0.046 MJ/kg^0.75) compared to those in semi-arid (0.600 ± 0.038 MJ/kg^0.75) and tended to be lower than those in arid regions (0.529 ± 0.050 MJ/kg^0.75). However, these differences disappeared when adjusting for maturity, diet composition, digestibility, or altitude. MEg was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in animals raised in arid regions (0.032 ± 0.006 MJ/g ADG) compared to those in Mediterranean (0.009 ± 0.004 MJ/g ADG) or semi-arid regions (0.009 ± 0.004 MJ/g ADG)…
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