Abstract
Dairy donkey milking procedures require separating foals from their dams for a few hours a day. Artificial suckling in this species is a good technique for improving milk production and foal welfare. The aim of the work is to compare the effect of two different diets on donkey foals when separated from jennies for milking procedures with and without a milk replacer. Forty newborn Martina Franca donkey foals were subdivided into two experimental groups. Both groups were separated from their respective dams from 8.00to 20.00to allow the jennies to be milked. During the separation, all the foals had access ad libitum to water, hay and feed. During the separation period, one group had the availability of a mechanical milk replacer dispenser, so foals were partially artificially suckled (AS), while the other group had no milk replacer available, and so were totally naturally suckled (NS). The AS group had milk replacer availability until 120±7d of life. Both groups were naturally weaned at 168±7d. Blood samples were collected weekly starting from birth until two wks after weaning (i.e. at 182d), from all the foals included in the trial. Almost all the analytes were influenced by suckling technique and age of foals. Alanine-aminotransferase, aspartate-aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, NEFA, lipid hydroperoxides, serum proteins showed the greatest differences between the two experimental groups. Separating foals from their dams for 12hdaily for 24 weeks does not lead to pathological subclinical and metabolic conditions, thus confirming the high rusticity and resistance of the donkey.