期刊
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
卷 70, 期 7, 页码 690-694出版社
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20540
关键词
plant protein; ADIN; nutritional ecology; ape nutrition
类别
Protein is essential for living organisms, but digestibility of crude protein is poorly understood and difficult to predict. Nitrogen is used to estimate protein content because nitrogen is a component of the amino acids that comprise protein, but a substantial portion of the nitrogen in plants may be bound to fiber in an indigestible form. To estimate the amount of crude protein that is unavailable in the diets of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei) in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, foods routinely eaten were analyzed to determine the amount of nitrogen bound to the acid-detergent fiber residue. The amount of fiber-bound nitrogen varied among plant parts: herbaceous leaves 14.5 +/- 8.9% (reported as a percentage of crude protein on a dry matter (DM) basis), tree leaves (16.1 +/- 6.7% DM), pith/ herbaceous peel (26.2 +/- 8.9% DM), fruit (34.7 +/- 17.8% DM), bark (43.8 +/- 15.6% DM), and decaying wood (85.2 +/- 14.6% DM). When crude protein and available protein intake of adult gorillas was estimated over a year, 15.1% of the dietary crude protein was indigestible. These results indicate that the proportion of fiber-bound protein in primate diets should be considered when estimating protein intake, food selection, and food/habitat quality.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据