[An experimental study of the rate and dynamics of the progression of different foods through the digestive tract of the greater gerbil].

The rate and dynamics of food movement over the digestive tract was studied with the use of solid markers and small fragments of colored plastic film, in five experimental groups of great gerbils kept on different diets (various combinations of concentrated and cellulose food). The concentrated food moves relatively uniformly over the digestive tract and is fully evacuated within 24-25 h. Addition of various plant objects rich in cellulose to the grain food and feeding of the gerbil on the cellulose food alone lengthened the period of food evacuation up to 50 h. This is due to food differentiation into rapidly and slowly moving portions (the latter are delayed in the prostomach and caecum).