Amount of experience and prior illness affect the acquisition and persistence of conditioned food aversions in lambs
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| Category | Journal Articles |
|---|---|
| Abstract |
In experiment 1, lambs were offered small amounts (<200 g) of novel feeds (wheat and rice) for 12 days, until they ate both feeds readily. To establish an aversion to one of the feeds, lambs were then given the toxin lithium chloride after consumption. On subsequent days, lambs were allowed to eat the feed previously paired with LiCl until the aversion stopped. Lambs were then offered a meal containing wheat and rice followed by LiCl; lambs subsequently avoided the feed that had been paired with LiCl, but they did not reduce intake of the other feed. In experiment 2, lambs were offered oats (novel feed) at 1% body weight for 1, 7, 14 or 28 days. An aversion was then induced by offering oats followed by LiCl. Lambs with >=14 days' exposure to the feed formed the least persistent aversions. Furthermore, the aversion to oats stopped within 6 days in lambs offered oats for 7 days. It was concluded that lambs are not likely to avoid a feed they were trained to avoid (e.g. trees in orchards, poisonous plants) if they have more than 7 days' experience with the feed. |
| Date | 1996 |
| Publication Title | Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 1/2 |
| Pages | 73-80 |
| ISBN/ISSN | 0168-1591 |
| Language | English |
| Author Address | Department of Rangeland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA. |
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