TURNOVER ´13CARBON ISOTOPE IN MEAT QUAIL

• Grant number: 11/04363-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Celso Pezzato
• Grantee: Juliana Cristina Ramos Rezende
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/57411-4 - Environmental stable isotopes in animal science, AP.TEM

Abstract

Currently, the technique of stable isotopes may be indicated to evaluate the turnover or replacement time of carbon in animal tissues, wich can be influenced by the growth in young animals. Growth occurs during tissue renewal through its synthesis and degradation. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the turnover of ´13C by replacing diet C4 with diet C3, in quails at different stages of growth using the technique of stable isotopes. Will be used 300 quails, raised in intensive system, with one day of age, in a completely randomized design with six treatments and five replications. The quails, at birth, should present in their body tissues isotopic signals of ´13C similar to the C4 diet consumed by their mothers. This isotopic signal will be held until the day of replacement of the diet C4 by the diet C3, where begins the process of tissue turnover. For isotopic analysis, will be collected five birds per treatment, of wich will be removed samples of blood, pectoral muscle, keel, and tibia, followed by the analysis in mass spectrometer DELTA-S (Finnigan Mat) coupled to Analisador Elementar (EA 1108 CHN). The data is analyzed by fitting the exponential non-linear regression of first order in the software Minitab 16 and Origin 6.0 Professional (Microcal Software, 1999).