Sunflower in the Diet of Siberian Roe Deer (Capreolus Pygargus) During the Winter High-Snow Period: Clinical and Morphological Criteria of the Digestive System

Abstract

The article presents innovative environmental methods as a basis for biotechnological approaches of sunflower cultivation to be used for supplementary feeding of roe deer in their natural habitat in the winter, in order to preserve the animal population and to maintain the biological balance of the ecosystem at the Kirzinsky Federal State Natural Reserve in the Novosibirsk region. The article provides the basic pathoanatomical and morphological criteria of the metabolic processes in the organism of Siberian roe deer in case of using sunflower in their diet. A high level of anabolic (cumulative) processes in the roe deer organism is identified, which is manifested in the formation of large fat depots, thus reflecting the high degree of stability of the biological system to the occurrence of natural extraordinary factors in the natural habitat of the roe deer. The examination has shown that the rumen is satisfactorily filled with homogeneous contents of moderate humidity. Forage mainly consists of sunflower represented by the sunflower groats with grains (seeds) of various degree of mechanical and biological crushing. The use of sunflower as supplementary feed in extensive fodder fields allows Siberian roe deer to accumulate energy reserve in the winter with significantly high snow cover, for ensuring the forming and metabolic processes, especially in the extreme conditions of living in the wild.