Evaluation of N-alkanes as Faecal Markers to Estimate Diet Composition, Feed Intake, and Digestibility in European Bison (Bison bonasus)

Table 2

Mean n-alkane concentrations (mg/kg DM) of the straw, non-labelled and beeswax labelled concentrate feed used in this experiment.

n-alkanes

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

Total

Even-chain

Odd-chain

Straw

11 ± 5.1

2 ± 1.1

21 ± 7.4

5 ± 1.9

74 ± 24.6

5 ± 1.6

79 ± 26.1

3 ± 1.3

13 ± 7.0

214 ± 58.6

15 ± 5.1

199 ± 55.3

CF

2 ± 0.6

2 ± 0.3

5 ± 0.8

9 ± 3.0

18 ± 0.9

2 ± 0.1

25 ± 1.0

3 ± 1.3

6 ± 0.1

74 ± 1.8

17 ± 2.7

57 ± 3.4

BCF

313 ± 30.1

277 ± 26.2

364 ± 32.9

252 ± 22.0

294 ± 22.7

190 ± 15.0

225 ± 13.2

153 ± 10.5

137 ± 8.6

2205 ± 173.3

872 ± 71.3

1333 ± 102.2

CF, concentrate feed. BCF, beeswax labelled concentrate feed.