Dr David Smith D.Smith@napier.ac.uk
Lecturer
Evaluation of recently developed techniques for estimating diet composition in browsing herbivores.
Smith, Dave; Mpendu, B F; Lamani, M B; Dzeba, L; Kelly, E
Authors
B F Mpendu
M B Lamani
L Dzeba
E Kelly
Abstract
Accuracy of estimates of botanical composition of herbivore diet may be improved through the use of recently developed techniques (alkane analysis, remote controlled oesophageal fistula valve). Three Boer goats allowed free choice of five forage species were used to compare seven methods of estimating diet composition with observed diet composition. The evaluated techniques either monitored intake [bite-count (IT1), bite mass corrected bite-count (IT2), relative bite mass corrected bite-count (IT3), micro-histological analysis of oesophageal extrusa collected at hourly intervals (IT4)] or faeces [alkane analysis (FT1), micro-histological faecal analysis (FT2), and in vitro corrected, micro-histological faecal analysis (FT3)]. Intake techniques had higher Kulczynski's similarity coefficients with measured values (70.7, 70.2, 65.5, and 78.6 respectively for IT1, IT2, IT3 and IT4) than did faecal techniques (58.9, 58.0 and 51.2 respectively for FT1, FT2 and FT3). Compared to IT2 and IT3, IT4 provided estimates of diet composition that was more similar to measured diet composition in terms of Kulczynski's similarity coefficients. However, estimates of diet composition were significantly different from measured values in 60% of cases for IT4 but only 40% of cases for IT2 and IT3. It is concluded that bite-count techniques (IT1 - IT3) can give as accurate estimate of diet composition as the more costly and technically demanding micro-histological analysis of oesophageal extrusa (IT4).
Citation
Smith, D., Mpendu, B. F., Lamani, M. B., Dzeba, L., & Kelly, E. (2001). Evaluation of recently developed techniques for estimating diet composition in browsing herbivores. Agrippa,
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | 2002 |
Deposit Date | May 15, 2015 |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Keywords | Herbivore diet; alkane analysis; remote controlled oesophageal fistula valve; diet composition; |
Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/8169 |
Publisher URL | http://www.fao.org/docrep/article/agrippa/552_en.htm |
You might also like
'Big Brother' researchers to rein in horse obesity
(2010)
Journal Article
Study to learn secrets of equine couch potatoes
(2010)
Journal Article
Why a mongrel will always trump the pedigree chump
(2008)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Edinburgh Napier Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@napier.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search