THE EFFECT OF FLAVOR CONCENTRATION AND TOXIN DOSE ON THE FORMATION AND GENERALIZATION OF FLAVOR AVERSIONS IN LAMBS

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.