Effect of Electron-Charging of Feed and Water on Acid-Base Balance of Jugular-Vein Blood in Growing Sheep

Abstract

In order to achieve animal health, production efficiency of livestock and strengthening of environmental preservation, the authors have studied the application of electron-charging system (JEM system) of feed and water for livestock production. The electron-charging of feed and water have shown the favorable effects on feed efficiency, blood chemical components and enzyme activity of sheep during growth. We investigated the effects of electron-charging of feed and water on the blood acid-base balance of growing sheep. The 3 to 5 months old castrated male sheep were allocated to 3 groups of the reference, the electron-charged feed (ECF), and the electron-charged feed & water (ECFW) with 5 head each. The animals were fed on 70 ％ formula feed and 30 ％ Bermuda hay on dry matter basis at the rate of 2.2 to 3.0％ of body weight. Feed and water were charged more than 15 h by the electron-charging system developed by JEM Co., Japan. The experiment period was 44 days and blood samples were collected from the jugular vein before morning feeding 2 days before and 4 h after feeding on the last day. The venous blood pH and pCO₂ showed the effect of electron-charging of feed and water (P < 0.05). The pH of ECF and ECFW groups tended to be higher than that of the reference group both before and after feeding. On the other hand, the pCO₂ for the treated groups showed the lower tendency compared to the reference group. The relatively higher pH of ECF and ECFW groups attributed to the lower pCO₂ values which might be caused by the modified binding capacity of hemoglobin with CO₂ through the manipulation of chloride shift in red blood cell. The pO₂ , Na⁺, Cl^- and AG of treated groups might be affected by electron charging, showing the different tendency of correlation coefficient with pCO₂ compared to reference group. The HCO₃^- (P < 0.05), stHCO₃^- (P < 0.01), tCO₂ (P <0.05), BE (P < 0.01), Cl^- (P < 0.001) were affected by feeding time. As a result of multiple regression analysis, the pH as a dependent variable was greatly influenced by pCO₂ and HCO₃^- with 0.96 of adjusted R². Therefore it was concluded that the electron-charging of feed and water contributes to the maintenance of blood pH through the manipulation of pCO₂ and HCO₃^-, and has a favorable effect on livestock health, and eventually livestock productivity.