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Coprophagy in the Rabbit

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U. S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, Bureau of Plant Industry Soils and Agricultural Engineering, A. R. S., U. S. Department of Agriculture, Ithaca, New York

The rates of coprophagy and the utilization of dietary nutrients were studied in the rabbit on two diets of different compositions using radioactive Cr₂O₃ as an indicator. A possible physiological mechanism was postulated to explain the production of soft and hard feces, and a protein-containing cecal secretion was suggested to account for the compositional differences in the soft and hard feces.

The prevention of coprophagy resulted in an apparent decrease in protein digestibility and in nitrogen retention, and in the digestibility of dry matter on all diets studied. The effect of this habit on the utilization of other dietary nutrients depended on the diet studied. An increase in the digestibility of the cellulose of a purified type of diet was associated with the longer half-life of feed residues in the digestive tract of rabbits practicing coprophagy in comparison with those in which it was prevented.