ISSN:
1095-8649
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
The gastric evacuation time (GET) and the passage of food through the intestines was investigated in Sarotherodon mossambicus (Peters) fry of two size groups, viz. 0·2–1·0g and 1·0–3·0g, in response to five diets. In the experiments voluntary feeding was adopted and markers were not used. The passage of food through the stomach was described by the exponential model.The GET increased with body weight for any particular diet, with one exception. The GET ranged from 290 min to 1104 min in fry of 1·0–3·0 g on Diet 2. There was evidence to indicate that the GET was negatively correlated to the specific gravity of the diet.The passage of food through the intestines showed a consistent trend from diet to diet; e.g. the algal diet being moved into the intestine in ‘finite’ quanta as opposed to the others. The importance of these observations and the implications of the dependence of the GET on the specific gravity of the diet in the use of markers in digestibility studies are discussed.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1983.tb02914.x
