Kl. Launchbaugh et Fd. Provenza, THE EFFECT OF FLAVOR CONCENTRATION AND TOXIN DOSE ON THE FORMATION AND GENERALIZATION OF FLAVOR AVERSIONS IN LAMBS, Journal of animal science, 72(1), 1994, pp. 10-13
If an animal experiences gastrointestinal malaise after eating a novel
feed, it develops a dislike for the feed called a conditioned flavor
aversion (CFA). Understanding flavor aversions is important for diet-t
raining procedures, understanding animal responses to poisonous plants
, and preparing animals for new foraging environments. Our research ob
jectives were to determine how variation in 1) flavor concentration (o
regano) and 2) dose of gastrointestinal toxin (lithium chloride; LiCl)
affected the establishment of CFA in lambs. In a series of experiment
s feeding lambs ground grains mixed with oregano, we examined how the
formation of a CFA to one ground grain, with or without oregano, influ
enced the consumption of another oregano-flavored grain. We determined
that 1) the higher the toxin dose, the stronger the CFA, the greater
the generalization of the CFA to a similar feed, and the greater the a
voidance of a novel feed; 2) lambs generalized aversions from familiar
to novel. feeds when both feeds had a flavor in common; and 3) the co
ncentration or intensity of feed flavor apparently did not affect the
acquisition or generalization of a CFA, but it did influence the accep
tance of a novel feed. Our findings suggest that flavor aversions may
be important in the acceptance of harvested or processed feeds.