MONITORING MULE DEER DIET QUALITY AND INTAKE WITH FECAL INDEXES

Few studies have evaluated fecal indices for monitoring diet quality a nd intake of North American deer, We conducted 11 digestion trials wit h black-tailed (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus Richardson) and mule d eer (O. h. hemionus Rafinesque) to examine relationships between sever al chemical constituents of deer feces (i.e., fecal nitrogen, fecal 2, 6-diaminopimelic acid (DAPA), fecal neutral detergent fiber (NDF), fec al acid detergent fiber, and fecal acid detergent lignin) and dry matt er intake, digestible energy, digestible energy intake, diet crude pro tein content, crude protein digestibility, and digestible crude protei n intake, We developed regression equations to predict diet quality an d intake and also evaluated 2 alternative methods (organic matter basi s and neutral detergent fiber (ndf) basis) for quantifying fecal indic es, Concentrations of DAPA, fecal NDF, and fecal N were the most preci se for estimating diet quality and intake, Extracts from 5 of 11 diets precipitated only small amounts of protein and influence of tannins o n protein digestion probably was slight, Quantifying fecal indices per unit organic matter and neutral detergent fiber in the feces was comp arable to the standard dry matter basis and under some field condition s should improve their predictive ability, We believe our best equatio ns are suitable for management purposes where diets are similar and in take and quality are believed to be within the ranges we documented.