title: Exposure to onion taste in mother's milk leads to enhanced preference for onion diet among weanling rats.
abstract: Five mothers of 50 newborn rat pups were maintained on either standard lab chow or a diet composed of the same chow with onion powder added. Taste preference tests administered during weaning indicated that the pups whose mother was fed the onion chow showed a preference for onion diet, but that such preference dissipated across the five day testing period. A control group of pups who were exposed to any onion diet cues available through channels other than the mother's milk did not show a preference for onion diet. It was concluded that exposure to onion taste in mother's milk was responsible for an initial preference for onion diet.
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D000833:Animals, Suckling; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D051381:Rats; D013649:Taste; D014886:Weaning