Loeb S C, Schwab R G, Demment M W
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA.
Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA.
Oecologia. 1991 May;86(4):542-551. doi: 10.1007/BF00318321.
We examined digestibility of dry matter, nutrients, and fiber, and food intake, metabolic fecal losses, weight change, and gut size of pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) in relation to diet quality in the laboratory. Pocket gophers were maintained for 15-20 days on one of seven diets which contained from 18% to 56% neutral detergent fiber (NDF). NDF content of the diet was an excellent predictor of diet quality. Digestibility of dry matter, NDF, and nitrogen all decreased with increasing NDF content of the diet. In general, pocket gophers compensated for low diet quality by increasing dry matter intake, but those given high quality forage before the lowest quality diet reduced their intake. Thus, the response of pocket gophers to low quality diets may depend on their body condition. Because increased food intake resulted in increased total metabolic fecal losses and metabolic fecal nitrogen losses, decreasing food intake on low-quality diets may be advantageous. A further response of pocket gophers to decreased food quality was an increase in size of cecum and large intestine, suggesting that fermentation of cell walls became increasingly important as diet quality decreased.
我们在实验室中研究了衣囊鼠（Thomomys bottae）的干物质、营养物质和纤维的消化率，以及食物摄入量、代谢性粪便损失、体重变化和肠道大小与饮食质量的关系。将衣囊鼠置于七种日粮之一上饲养15 - 20天，这些日粮的中性洗涤纤维（NDF）含量在18%至56%之间。日粮的NDF含量是饮食质量的一个极佳预测指标。随着日粮NDF含量的增加，干物质、NDF和氮的消化率均下降。总体而言，衣囊鼠通过增加干物质摄入量来弥补低质量饮食，但那些在喂食最低质量日粮之前先喂食高质量草料的衣囊鼠会减少摄入量。因此，衣囊鼠对低质量饮食的反应可能取决于它们的身体状况。由于食物摄入量增加导致总代谢性粪便损失和代谢性粪便氮损失增加，因此在低质量日粮上减少食物摄入量可能是有利的。衣囊鼠对食物质量下降的另一个反应是盲肠和大肠尺寸增大，这表明随着饮食质量下降，细胞壁的发酵变得越来越重要。
