Controlling Factors of Feed Intake and Salivary Secretion in Goats Fed on Dry Forage

The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not feeding induced hypovolemia (decreases in plasma volume) and decreases in plasma bicarbonate concentration caused by loss of NaHCO3 from the blood, act to suppress feed intake and saliva secretion volumes during the initial stages of feeding in goats fed on dry forage. The animals were fed twice a day at 10:30 and at 16:00 for 2 h each time. Prior to the morning feeding, the collected saliva (3-5 kg) was infused into the rumen. During the morning 2 h feeding period (10:30 to 12:30), the animals were fed 2-3 kg of roughly crushed alfalfa hay cubes. At 16:00, the animals were fed again with 0.8 kg of alfalfa hay cubes, 200 g of commercial ground concentrate and 20 g of sodium bicarbonate. In order to compensate for water or NaHCO3 lost through saliva during initial stages of feeding, a 3 h intravenous infusion (17-19 ml/min) of artificial mixed saliva (ASI) or mannitol solution (MI) was begun 1 h prior to the morning feeding and continued until the conclusion of the 2 h feeding period. The physiological state of the goats in the present experiment remained unchanged after parotid gland fistulation. Circulating plasma volume decreases caused by feeding (estimated by increases in plasma total protein concentration) were significantly suppressed by the ASI and MI treatments. During the first 1 h of the 2 h feeding period, plasma osmolality in the ASI treatment was the same as the NI (non-infusion control) treatment, while plasma osmolality in the MI treatment was significantly higher. In comparison to the NI treatment, cumulative feed intake levels for the duration of the 2 h feeding period in the ASI and MI treatments increased markedly by 56.6 and 88.3%, respectively. On the other hand, unilateral cumulative parotid saliva secretion volume following the termination of the 2 h feeding period in the ASI treatment was 50.7% higher than that in the NI treatment. MI treatment showed the same level as the NI treatment. The results of the present experiment proved that the humoral factors involved in the suppression of feeding and saliva secretion during the initial stages of feeding in goats fed on dry forage, are feeding induced hypovolemia and decrease in plasma HCO3 concentration caused by loss of NaHCO3 from the blood. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2005. Vol 18, No. 10 : 1414-1420)