Gender-related amino acid intake of adult wild Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)

1. The Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) is under an enormous hunting pressure. It is bred intensively in game farms. The hunting season is during the non-reproductive resting period when partridges are at maintenance conditions.

2. There is a lack of information about the amino acid (AA) composition of the natural diet of the adult birds in their habitat or differences in dietary AA composition related to gender. The objective of this work was to establish a first approach to the AA composition of the natural diet of adult wild Red-legged Partridge.

3. Food content in crops and gizzards of female and male birds hunted in the same hunting season and area was analysed for AA composition.

4. Females food had higher concentrations of individual essential AA (EAA) and non-essential AA (NEAA) than males.

5. There are important differences in the concentration of AA in the natural diet of wild females and males. It may be advisable to use diets differing in the proportion of individual AA in the game farms during the non-reproductive resting period.