Comparative evaluation of nutritional adequacy of rice-meat based homemade diet with or without vegetables in great dane pups

Four female Great Dane pups (3 months; 16 kg) were used in a crossover design to study the influence of vegetable supplementation of rice-meat based homemade diet. Accordingly, the pups were fed two diets viz. rice-meat and rice-meat-vegetables in the proportion of 20:80 and 16:68:16, respectively, on as fed basis. The vegetables used contained potato, tomato and cabbage in equal proportions. The experimental protocol, consisting of two subsequent periods of 14d each, involved a digestion trial of 3d during 12-14d followed by blood collection on day 15. The results revealed that supplementation of vegetables drastically reduced (P<0.001) the palatability as well as food consumption leading consequently to a reduction in mean daily intakes of protein, energy (ME), calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper and zinc. The digestibility of DM, OM and carbohydrates also decreased (P<0.001) on feeding the vegetables supplemented diet with a similar trend for that of protein (P=0.077) and fibre (P=0.099). The faecal attributes viz. volume, moisture, pH and excretion of dry and wet faeces per 100g DM intake exhibited an increasing trend in the vegetables supplemented pups with no effects on short chain fatty acids and lactate concentrations. Serum metabolic profiles of the two groups were similar except for higher (P<0.05) values of urea and uric acid in the vegetables-fed pups. The antioxidant profile was also similar between the two groups except for the total and protein-bound thiols, which were higher (P<0.01) in the vegetables fed pups. It is concluded that indiscriminate supplementation of vegetables in the diet may adversely affect the nutritional status of the pups.