Effect of dietary fiber concentration on apparent digestibility and digesta passage in non-human primates. I. Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia variegata vauiegata and V-v. rubra)

Two test diets with different fiber concentrations (15% acid detergent fibe r [ADF], 30% ADF) were fed to five adult female ruffed lemurs (Varecia vari egata). Apparent digestibility (%) of dry matter (DM), gross energy (GE), a nd fiber components (neutral detergent fiber [NDF], ADF, hemicellulose [HC] , and cellulose [CI]) were measured. Rates of digesta transit (TT1) and ret ention time (R-GIT) were assessed using acetate beads, Co-ethylenediaminete traacetic acid and Cr-mordanted fiber. Apparent digestibilities (%) of comp onents of the 15ADF and 30ADF diets, respectively, were 51.0 and 41.7 for D M, 47.0 and 39.7 for GE, and 20.4 and 20.7 for NDE TT1 was approximately 2. 7 hours. R-GIT was 3.8 hours. No differences in TT1 or R-GIT between dietar y treatments or marker types were detected. Results of this study support a necdotal observations that Varecia variegata have a limited capacity to uti lize plant cell wall constituents as a significant energy source, when comp ared with more folivorous prosimans. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.