Simitzis Panagiotis E, Symeon George K, Kominakis Antonios P, Bizelis Iosif A, Chadio Stella E, Abas Zafeiris, Deligeorgis Stelios G
Department of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Faculty of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece.
Department of Agricultural Development, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.
Physiol Behav. 2015 Mar 15;141:172-9. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.01.025. Epub 2015 Jan 22.
The objective of the present experiment was to investigate the implications of severe maternal undernutrition on the post-weaning behavior of rabbits. Thirty two does were randomly assigned to four groups: the control group (C) that was fed 100% of the recommended energy maintenance requirements throughout pregnancy and lactation and the U1, U2 and U3 groups that were fed 50% of the recommended energy maintenance requirements between the 6th and the 19th day of pregnancy, between the 20th and the 27th day of pregnancy and between the 3rd and the 10th day of lactation, respectively. At the age of 50 and 65 days, behavior of rabbits in cages was recorded and rabbits were further subjected to an open-field test; a paradigm used as an indicator of fear and emotional distress. Significant differences were found between the U2 and the other experimental groups for the duration of eating and drinking, and duration of locomotory and investigatory behaviors (P<0.05). At the age of 65 days, duration of comfort behaviors was also lower in the U2 compared to the other groups (P<0.05). On the other hand, duration of resting appeared to be the highest in the group of rabbits born from undernourished does between the 20th and the 27th day of pregnancy (P<0.05). Duration of resting was significantly increased, although frequency and duration of eating and drinking were significantly decreased at the age of 65 days (P<0.05). Male rabbits had greater values for locomotory and investigatory behaviors, and duration of eating and drinking compared to the females (P<0.01). A decreased activity of rabbits during the light period was observed (as expected), whereas an increase in duration of locomotory and investigatory behaviors was observed during the first four and the last 4h of the light and dark periods, respectively (P<0.05). Rabbits born from the U1 and U2 group of does displayed increased rates of latency to leave the start position compared to the other groups during the implementation of the open-field test (P<0.05). No other significant differences in the exhibition of the examined behaviors were found between the treatment groups, with the exception of 'moving forelegs' activity that had the lowest value in the U3 group of rabbits. It is concluded that severe maternal undernutrition (50% of the recommended maintenance requirements) especially between the 20th and the 27th day of pregnancy has significant effects on the exhibition of rabbits' post-weaning behavior, since the offspring from the U2 undernourished does were significantly less active compared to the other experimental groups.
本实验的目的是研究母体严重营养不良对家兔断奶后行为的影响。32只母兔被随机分为四组：对照组（C），在整个怀孕和哺乳期间给予100%推荐的能量维持需求量；U1、U2和U3组，分别在怀孕第6天至第19天、第20天至第27天以及哺乳第3天至第10天给予50%推荐的能量维持需求量。在50日龄和65日龄时，记录笼养条件下家兔的行为，并对家兔进一步进行旷场试验；该试验范式用作恐惧和情绪困扰的指标。发现U2组与其他实验组在进食和饮水持续时间、运动和探究行为持续时间方面存在显著差异（P<0.05）。在65日龄时，U2组的舒适行为持续时间也低于其他组（P<0.05）。另一方面，在怀孕第20天至第27天期间，营养不良母兔所生家兔组的休息持续时间似乎最长（P<0.05）。在65日龄时，休息持续时间显著增加，尽管进食和饮水的频率和持续时间显著减少（P<0.05）。与雌性家兔相比，雄性家兔在运动和探究行为以及进食和饮水持续时间方面的值更高（P<0.01）。观察到家兔在光照期的活动减少（正如预期的那样），而在光照期的前4小时和黑暗期的后4小时，运动和探究行为的持续时间分别增加（P<0.05）。在旷场试验实施期间，与其他组相比，U1和U2组母兔所生家兔离开起始位置的潜伏期增加（P<0.05）。除了“移动前肢”活动在U3组家兔中值最低外，在各处理组之间未发现所检查行为表现的其他显著差异。得出的结论是，母体严重营养不良（推荐维持需求量的50%），尤其是在怀孕第20天至第27天期间，对家兔断奶后行为的表现有显著影响，因为U2组营养不良母兔所生的后代与其他实验组相比活动明显较少。
