Effect of Diet on the Chemical Composition of Cecal Contents in Chickens

Abstract

In order to determine the effect of diet on the chemical composition of cecal contents, the present experiments were carried out by using 3 months old Single-Comb White Leghorn cockerels. The diets tested were: whole wheat, a conventional diet, the conventional diet added 10% Italian ryegrass fiber or 15% feather meal, and the semi-purified diets containing 0-30% casein. The results obtained were as follows. Comparing with the lower small lintestinal contents, the cecal contents contained crude protein at a very high level, and the most of this crude protein was non-protein nitrogenous compounds. It was considered that the most part of the non-protein nitrogenous compounds in the cecum was endogenously secreted from the cecum. Crude fiber was remarkably low and nitrogen-free extracts tended to be slightly lower in the cecal contents. The conventional diet and the semi-purified diet containing 13% casein were given to the colostomized with an artificial anus chickens, and no significant difference in the chemical composition was observed between small intestinal contents and rectal feces, and between the cecal contents and cecal feces. This suggests that the rectum play no important role in digestion and absorption, because the rectal tract of chicken is not only relatively short but underdeveloped.