Method for Formulating a Daily Diet Recipe for Hedgehog Farming

1) Draft hedgehog feeding standards and select feed ingredients. The rearing period of hedgehogs is relatively short, and feeding standards for each biological stage have not yet been established. Currently, referring to the diet standards of other omnivorous animals, the provisional digestible energy is 11 MJ/kg, digestible protein is 16.5%, calcium 1%, phosphorus 0.6%, and lysine 0.8%. Local feed ingredients include corn, wheat bran, fine rice bran, soybean meal, fish meal, carrots, sweet potato, and green vegetables.

2) Initial diet formulation. Taking into account minerals and additives at 1%-2% as the proportion of these ingredients, the other ingredients are initially formulated at 98%-99%. The initial formulation considers protein, energy, and crude fiber. The contents of digestible energy and protein both fail to meet the requirements of the drafted indicators, so the proportions of feed ingredients must be adjusted by increasing the amount of protein feed and reducing the amount of bran and rice bran feed ingredients.

3) Adjusting the recipe. Because the energy and protein contents both fail to meet the requirements, the adjustment should increase the amount of corn and soybean meal while reducing the amount of vegetables and sweet potato. The originally drafted recipe had feed energy of 11.0 MJ/kg and protein content of 16.5%. After adjustment, the feed energy is 11.09 MJ/kg and the protein content is 16.65%, both slightly higher than the original design, and it can serve as a reference recipe for hedgehog rearing.

4) Calculation of calcium, phosphorus, and lysine in the adjusted recipe. In the adjusted recipe, the calcium content is slightly low, phosphorus is slightly high, and lysine is high. When rearing hedgehogs, feed recipes can be formulated according to their different biological stages, and calcium can be appropriately added, so that it can serve as the feed for that stage.