title: Do changes in dietary chemistry during ontogeny affect digestive performance in adults of the herbivorous rodent Octodon degus?
abstract: We characterize the flexibility in digestive performance in degus (Octodon degus) an herbivorous rodent. We tested the hypothesis that dietary and physiological-digestive flexibility are correlated. Degus were fed with artificial diets of different chemical composition from weaning to adulthood and their digestive performance was measured through records of apparent digestibility. The starch content of the acclimation diet was not correlated with protein digestibility nor was it correlated with starch digestibility. In addition, digestive tract morphology was not affected by dietary treatments. Hence, an absence of morphological and physiological flexibility related to digestive traits was observed in degus. The lower flexibility in digestive performance given by our dietary experimental treatments of degus, may be an evolutionary constraint related to their specialized herbivorous food habits.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile; Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity, Chile. Electronic address: fpsabat@uchile.cl.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sabat
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity, Chile; Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 6513677, Chile.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bozinovic
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization / Q000502:physiology; D000367:Age Factors; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000494:pharmacology; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology*; D004064:Digestive System / Q000254:growth & development*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D023421:Models, Animal; D046329:Octodon / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014886:Weaning