Effects of vegetable protein sources on digestibility and water balance in adult cats

• Grant number: 22/07202-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Aulus Cavalieri Carciofi
• Grantee: Isabel Ten Caten Bento
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, protein sources in cat food are mostly of animal origin, but for sustainability, cost, and nutritional reasons, vegetable sources are included as part of the supply of amino acids. Thus, the goal of this study will be to evaluate the effects of replacing chicken viscera flour (FVF) with concentrated soy protein (CS), corn gluten (GM), and wheat gluten (GT) in diets for cats, on the apparent digestibility of nutrients, water balance and urine characteristics: volume, pH and density. A control diet will be formulated containing only FVF as a protein source. This will be divided into three test diets, in which CS, GM, and GT will replace 60% of the protein in the diet. 24 adult cats will be used, distributed in two blocks with 12 animals, 4 diets and 3 repetitions per ration in each block, totaling 6 repetitions per diet. Each block will include 10 days of adaptation to the diets and 7 days of total collection of feces and urine to determine nutrient digestibility, water balance, and determination of urinary characteristics (pH, density, and volume). For statistical analysis of the experiment, the assumptions of homoscedasticity of variances and normality of errors will be verified and, later, submitted to analysis of variance by the F test. If differences are verified, the means will be compared by the Tukey test (P<0.05). For all tests, a significance of 5% will be considered. (AU)