GESTION ET ÉVALUATION DU STATUT ÉNERGÉTIQUE DU DROMADAIRE

Abstract

The assessment of the body condition is a useful tool for zootechnicians and stockbreeders to manage the nutritional status of animals subjected to strong seasonal feeding constraints. Several tools are presented to support a convenient management and assessment of the energy status of the dromedary and for which some recent references are available. Four methods are developed in this present paper: (i) the scoring of the body condition starting from a visual grid adaptable according to the phenotypes of dromedary and which makes it possible to appreciate the total body condition; (ii) the estimation of the hump weight, principal fat reserve and rather unique organ in the animal world, which makes it possible to have an idea of the adiposity of the dromedary; (iii) the measurement of the adipocytes’ volume, a convenient analytical approach for research; and finally (iv) the determination of metabolites indicators of the energy level such as the leptin, the hormone of the fattening.