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1000
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Abstract/Summary
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Limited physiological measurements exist for the digestive physiology of porcupines. We measured CH 4 emission in three captive Indian crested porcupines ( Hystrix indica ; 16.1 ± 2.7 kg) fed a diet of pelleted lucerne, and measured feed intake, digestibility, and digesta mean retention time (MRT) of a solute and three particle markers (<2, 10 and 20 mm). Marker excretion patterns suggested secondary peaks indicative of caecotrophy, with MRTs of 26.4 h for the solute and 31.5, 26.8 and 26.2 h for the three particle markers, respectively. At a dry matter intake of 58 ±10 g/kg body mass 0.75 /day, porcupines digested 49 and 35% organic matter and neutral detergent fibre, respectively, which is in the lower range of that expected for horses on a similar diet. The respiratory quotient (CO 2 /O 2 ) was 0.91, the resting metabolic rate 274 kJ/kg body mass 0.75 /day, and CH4 emissions averaged at 8.16 l/day and 17.9 l/kg dry matter intake. Accordingly, CH 4 yield was so high that it resembled that of a hypothetical ruminant of this body mass. The results are in accord with general understanding of hystricomorph rodent digestive physiology, and support recent findings that CH 4 production may be more prominent in rodents than previously thought.
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