Time budget and food digestibility of ostriches (Struthio camelus domesticus) maintained in outdoor condition
2002
Tokita, N. (Nippon Veterinary and Zootechnical Coll., Musashino, Tokyo (Japan)) | Narisawa, N. | Takahashi, R. | Takahashi, M. | Mogami, A. | Konno, T.
An analysis of time budget and food digestibility of adult ostriches was conducted in captivity. They were kept singly for males and in a group for females. Concentrated feed and fresh forage (alfalfa) were given 2 times daily and water freely. All birds were sitting on the ground during the night. Time budget for observation was accounted from 0900 am to the time at which the birds sat down the ground by the sunset. Accounted time for 5-day observation was 560.5=+-41.2min in males and 512.1=+-47.2min in females. Time spent walking was over 43% as a dominant behavior in both male and female ostriches through the daily observations, and time walking together with standing and pecking on the ground was over 69%. Male and female ostriches consumed 288.0=+-3.8 g and 273.9=+-20.3 g crude protein per day, respectively. They spent about 60 minutes (11% each for male and female ostriches) eating this amount of food and pecked 1415.4=+-481.9 times for concentrated feed and 1538.4=+-664.5 times for fresh alfalfa. Therefore, dry matter intake per peck for male and female was 0.9=+-0.37 g for concentrated feed and 0.3=+-0.12 g for fresh forage. Digestibility of dry matter and crude protein in the experimental feeds was 64.1=+-10.0% and 80.7=+-6.3%, respectively. Digestibility of dietary fiber as a neutral detergent fiber was 59.2=+-11.4% in female ostriches and 47.9=+-8.6% in males. The transit time of marker (Yb), after oral prescription to the first appearance in feces, was 17.3=+-4.1 h for females and was longer than that for males. But the mean retention time of Yb in the digestive tract was 50.5=+-7.7 h and was no different between male and female ostriches.
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