Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T23:18:09.736Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nutritive value of caecum microorganisms and caecotrophes in rabbits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

J. M. Ganuza
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal y Ciencia de los Alimentos. C/ Miguel Servet 177.50013.ZARAGOZA., Spain
J. Balcells
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal y Ciencia de los Alimentos. C/ Miguel Servet 177.50013.ZARAGOZA., Spain
J. F. Pérez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal y Ciencia de los Alimentos. C/ Miguel Servet 177.50013.ZARAGOZA., Spain
M. Fondevila
Affiliation:
Departamento de Producción Animal y Ciencia de los Alimentos. C/ Miguel Servet 177.50013.ZARAGOZA., Spain
D.S. Parker
Affiliation:
Department of Biological & Nutritional Sciences., University of Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne., U.K.
Get access

Extract

Rabbits are able to recycle most of the microbial protein produced in the caecum by means of caecotrophagy. Caecotrophagy consists in a selective retention in the caecum of fluid and small particles (as vehicles of microorganism) that results in two type of faeces. Excretion of large and indigestible particles constitute the hard faeces whereas excretion of fermented material generate caecotrophes or soft faeces, that are reingested for the animal. It is true that bacterial-N represents the major part of caecotrofes-N. However, a fraction of indigestible dietary N and some addition of endogenous N can modify the final nutritive value of the caecotrophes (Hörnicke & Bjornahg, 1980). The aim of this study was to compare the Nitrogenous composition of bacteria extracted from the caecum against caecotrophes.

Type
Programme
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hörnicke, H. & Björnhag, G. (1980)Digestive Physiology and Metabolism in Ruminants, MTP Press Lancaster U. K. Google Scholar
Balcells, J., Guada, J. A., Peiró, J. M. & Parker, D. S. (1992). Simultaneous determination of allantoin and oxypurines in biological fluids by high-performance liquid chromatography. Journal of Chromatography 575, 153157.Google Scholar