Table 3.
Effect of different milk replacers on internal organ weight, caecal pH, intestinal villi morphology and digestive enzyme activity.
| Parameters | Artificial Milk Replacers (AMR) | SEM | p-Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMR | KMR | MMR | |||
| Internal organs characteristics (g/live body weight) | |||||
| Liver | 4.46 | 4.00 | 3.81 | 0.162 | 0.25 |
| Spleen | 0.14 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.015 | 0.51 |
| Kidney | 1.24 | 1.18 | 1.12 | 0.046 | 0.61 |
| Thoracic organs 1 | 1.07 | 1.09 | 1.15 | 0.063 | 0.38 |
| Pancreas | 0.06 | 0.07 | 0.05 | 0.007 | 0.99 |
| Full stomach | 7.40 | 7.44 | 7.22 | 0.555 | 0.79 |
| Stomach wall | 2.09 | 2.01 | 1.99 | 0.061 | 0.65 |
| Intestinal organs 2 | 7.38 | 6.87 | 7.37 | 0.242 | 0.54 |
| Full caecum | 16.3 | 16.1 | 16.2 | 0.422 | 0.97 |
| Caecal wall | 2.75 | 2.49 | 2.34 | 0.134 | 0.48 |
| Caecal pH | 6.50 | 6.30 | 6.38 | 0.081 | 0.63 |
| Caecal digestive enzyme activities (U) | |||||
| Amylase | 12.2 ab | 18.5 b | 10.4 a | 1.41 | 0.04 |
| Protease (×10−1) | 7.26 b | 6.84 ab | 5.79 a | 0.253 | 0.04 |
| Cellulase | 3.71 | 3.50 | 3.60 | 0.057 | 0.31 |
| Duodenal villi morphology (µm) | |||||
| Villus height | 320 a | 361 ab | 380 b | 8.50 | 0.04 |
| Villus crypt | 66.2 ab | 62.6 a | 68.4 b | 0.737 | 0.007 |
RMR = Rabbit milk replacer, which was used in this study, KMR = Kitten milk replacer (KMR®, Pet-Ag Inc., Hampshire, IL, USA), MMR = Mammal milk replacer (Zoologic® Milk matrix 30/52, Pet-Ag Inc., Hampshire, IL, USA), SEM = pooled standard error of mean, BW = Body weight, FI = Feed intake, ADG = Average daily weight gain, FCR = Feed conversion ratio; a, b The differences in superscript letter in the same row represented statistical significant differences (p < 0.05); 1 Thoracic organs includes lungs and heart; 2 Intestinal organs includes stomach, small intestine, large intestine, caecum and rectum with content.