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Validation of the n-alkane technique for measuring herbage intake in sows
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
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N-alkanes are components of plant cuticular wax which have been successfully used as markers for the estimation of grass intake and digestibility in grazing ruminants (Dove and Mayes, 1991). Natural n-alkanes are predominately odd chain, and a known dose of an artificial even chain n-alkane (normally c32 or c36) is used to enable intake to be measured. Dietary n-alkanes may behave differently in the gastro-intestinal tract of ruminants and non-ruminants (Mayes et al, 1995). Therefore, in order to utilise this methodology in studies of outdoor pigs, this experiment was carried out to validate the faecal recovery of n-alkanes in this species. Since n-alkanes are soluble in lipid, which is often incorporated at high inclusion levels in pig diets, the experiment was also designed to determine whether n-alkane recovery is influenced by dietary lipid content.
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- Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999
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