Dietary and Seasonal Influences on Nutritional Indices of Adult Male White-Tailed Deer

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Abstract
Nutritional and seasonal influences on physiological indices of of nutritional status were determined in a 1 yr experiment with 10 male white-tailed deer (O. virginianus). The deer were placed on ad lib or 0.75 ad lib diets and sampled every 28 days. Voluntary feed intake decreased in Oct. Body weights peaked in Oct., reached their lowest level in April, and were greater for ad lib than restricted-fed deer. Hb concentration, packed cell volume and mean corpuscular Hb content (MCHC) varied monthly; only MCHC was significantly lower in restricted-than in ad lib fed deer. Interactions between study months and diets were observed for blood urea N and urinary urea N creatinine ratios. Significant seasonal variation was observed for serum cholesterol, regardless of level of feeding. Ketone-body concentrations in serum were greater for ad lib than restricted-fed deer during the last 4 mo. of the study.