The objective of this experiment was to determine the validity of predicting the
diet quality of Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) by exposing a dried fecal
sample to light energy (a spectrophotometer). The resulting spectra measured were then
compared to the known wet chemistry of the diet to arrive at an equation for forecasting
the crude protein (CP) and digestible organic matter (DOM) ingested by the elk.
Forages were gathered from western ranges and blended to simulate plant species
ingested representing various elk diet qualities at different seasons of the year. Feeding
trials were begun during the summer of 1999 using the USDA Forest Service Starkey
UnitÂs herd of tame elk in northeast Oregon. Additional feeding trials were conducted at
Center, Texas and College Station, Texas in the spring of 2000 and the summers of 2000
and 2001, respectively. In all feeding trials, 1 elk was fed 1 diet of known quality,
ad libitum, for 8 days with fecal specimens collected on day 7 and day 8 for spectral
scanning. Results indicate acceptable predictability (R2 = 0.95, SEC = 1.13 for CP,
R2 = 0.80, SEC=1.73 for DOM) in forecasting the diet quality of elk, and thus it is
concluded that NIRS is a valuable management tool in monitoring the well-being of
captive and free-ranging elk.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/3949 |
| Date | 16 August 2006 |
| Creators | Keating, Marvin Scott |
| Contributors | Stuth, Jerry Wayne |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 534436 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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