[Apparent digestability after ligature of the pancreatic duct in the growing rabbit: effect of ad libitum feeding].

We studied the apparent digestibility of an ad libitum diet in 16 growing rabbits, 8 with pancreatic duct ligature (P-) and 8 sham-operated (TO). The study was divided into two 10-day periods, starting 5 and 33 days, respectively, after surgery. The food intake of the sham-operated animals was higher (160 g/day at the end of the experiment) than that of the ligated ones (stabilized at 100-120 g/day); mean daily gain was also higher in the former (TO: 33.7 g/day, P-: 15.6 g/day; P less than 0.01). Dry matter (MS) and energy digestibilities were not significantly different in the P- and the TO groups, but nitrogen (N) digestibility, decreased after pancreatic duct ligature (TO: 86.1, P-: 64.9; P less than 0.01), then increased in time much more in P- than in sham-operated rabbits, but remained lower in the ligated group (-5.6 points). The results suggest that digestive compensation was established after pancreatic duct ligature; its origin is hypothesized.