A comparative study on the behavior,serum biochemical indices and cecal microbiota of Sichuan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits
[Objective]To compare the differences in behavior,serum biochemical indices,and cecal mi-crobiota between Sichuan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits.And to investigate the possible relationship between behavior and cecal microflora in rabbits.[Method]A total of 144 healthy male rabbits(72 per group for Sichuan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits)were weaned at 35 days of age.Each group was di-vided into 24 replicates,with 3 rabbits in each replicate.The experimental period was 40 days,in which the pre-trail period was one week and the formal experimental period was 33 days.The behavior of Sichuan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits was observed 24 hours before slaughter.At 75 days of age,the tonic im-mobility test,the novel object test and open-field test were performed.The 75-day-old Sichuan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits were sacrificed.The blood samples were collected to determine the serum bio-chemical indices,and the cecal contents were collected to determine the microbiome.[Result]The frequen-cies of lying,sniffing,and caecotrophy behaviors of Sichuan White Rex rabbits were significantly higher than those of Hyla rabbits(P<0.05),and the frequencies of sitting,neighbor interaction,and gnawing be-haviors were significantly lower than those of Hyla rabbits(P<0.05).The duration of lying and caecotro-phy behaviors of Sichuan White Rex rabbits was significantly longer than that of Hyla rabbits(P<0.05),and the duration of eating,sitting,and gnawing behaviors was significantly shorter than that of Hyla rabbits(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in tonic immobility test and novel object test between Sich-uan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits(P>0.05).In the open-field test,the resting time and the number of litters of Sichuan White Rex rabbits were significantly higher than those of Hyla rabbits(P<0.05),but the exploration time was significantly lower than that of Hyla rabbits(P<0.05).In terms of serum bio-chemistry,the serum glucose level in the Sichuan White Rex rabbit group was significantly lower than that in the Hyla rabbit group(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the alpha diversity of caecum mi-croorganisms between Sichuan White Rex rabbits and Hyla rabbits(P>0.05).Firmicutes and Bacteroide-tes were the dominant phyla in the two rabbit breeds.Bacteroidetes was negatively correlated with the dura-tion of caecotrophy(P<0.05).[Conclusion]These results indicated that compared with Hyla rabbits,Sich-uan White Rex rabbits had lower serum glucose concentrations compared with Hyla rabbits.In addition,the frequency and duration of gnawing were lower for Sichuan White Rex rabbits,suggesting that Sichuan White Rex rabbits had less stereotyped behavior.
Sichuan White Rex rabbitHyla rabbitbehaviorserum biochemical indicesmicrobial flora
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NSTL
万方数据
