Previous studies have shown fruits of native plants to be an important part of the diet of the possum (Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr) in the broadleaf-podocarp forest of Orongorongo Valley, New Zealand. Fruits from six species of native plants, abundant in the valley in late summer and autumn, 1979, were analysed physically and chemically and compared with the leaf-only portion of the possum diet....

Diet-related disorders occur frequently in captive browsing ruminants. To assess current feeding practices, diets of 15 captive greater kudus (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) from three zoological collec-tions were compared to that of free-ranging conspecifics and current feeding recommendations. Dry matter intake (DMI) varied considerably in captivity from 49.2 to 75.7 g dry matter kg BM-0.75 d-1. R...

1. A comparison was made of the effect of a fibre-free diet and diets containing non-digestible polysaccharides on rat caecal and colonic physiology and microflora. 2. All polysaccharide-containing diets led to enlargement of the caecum and colon, associated with increased weight of contents, and of tissue. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) had the most marked effect and animals given this also had ...

We conducted three experiments to determine the sulfur amino acid (SAA) and methionine requirements of finishing gilts. Gilts (PIC Line 326 x C-15, Exp. 1; Line 326 x C-22, Exp. 2 and 3) were blocked by initial weight in randomized complete block designs. In Exp. 1, 64 gilts (initially 54 kg) were fed diets containing either .56 or .44% apparent digestible lysine with increasing SAA levels (63,...

the objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effects of dietary protein supplementation in lactating dairy ewe’s diets on milk coagulation properties. milk samples (n=126) were analyzed to assess the source of variation for rennet coagulation ability at the 6th (rca6) and 12th hour (rca12), milk clotting time (mct, s) and an index of milk clotting time (imct, %). in addition, data wer...

A twelve-week feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of Blood-wild Sunflower Leaf Meal (BWSLM) mixture on the performance of cross-bred (New Zealand x Chinchilla) male rabbits aged between 6-9 weeks. Thirty-two rabbits were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments of 8 rabbits per treatment in a Complete Randomized Design experiment. The BWSLM was included at 0, 5, 10 and 15...

Nowadays there are no doubts about the positive impact that fruits and vegetables have on human health. Plant fibres (i.e. non-digestible carbohydrates) are widely present in daily food, such as soups, dressings and sauces. On the other hand, agricultural (non-wood) by-products have a low economical value. However, those residues are frequently important sources of fibres so an important resear...

Fibres fractionated from solid recovered fuel (SRF), a standardised market combustion fuel produced from sorted waste, were considered as a source of lignocellulosic fermentable sugars. The fibre yield from four samples of SRF was 25-45%, and the separated material consisted of 52-54% carbohydrates, mainly glucan, with a high content of ash (12-17%). The enzymatic digestibility of recovered fib...

Azolla (Azolla pinnata) was assessed for nutrient content and feeding value in laying hen diets. Proximate analysis, together with the estimates of digestible protein, ADF, NDF and metabolizable energy indicated that it was a fair source of plant protein (285.4 g kgÿ1) with a digestible protein value of 219.8 g kgÿ1 and a metabolizable energy value of 7.59 MJ kgÿ1 (906 g kgÿ1 DM). The feeding v...

A model to predict voluntary water intake (WI) of a pig fed a known diet in a known environment is described. The daily retentions of protein, lipid, water and ash were estimated over time using a published pig growth model. Food intakes were estimated using published methods. WI was estimated by adding the amounts required for digestion (WD), faecal excretion (Wfec), growth (WG), evaporation (...