Digestive performance of dogs fed a jojoba meal supplemented diet

Jojoba meal, the simmondsin containing by-product of oil expelling from joj oba seeds (Simmondsia chinensis) reduces food intake in rats. In the search for diet meals for dogs, we tested the digestive effects of supplementatio n of jojoba meal to the diet of Beagle dogs at two different concentrations . Supplementation at a low dose (2.7%) did not reduce the body weight to lo wer values than control animals, and did not influence the digestibility of the food. At higher concentrations (8.1%) jojoba meal reduced body weight, which was not only due to a lower food intake, but also to a less than opt imal digestibility of the jojoba supplemented food. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All rights reserved.