Differences in feeding rates and digestive efficiency of alternative experimental diets
differing in cellulose or fiber and a secondary metabolite (the hydrolyzable tannin, tannic
acid [TA]) were assessed with the herbivorous burrowing caviomorph rodent Octodon degus
(degu). Degus live in open scrub subjected to summer droughts. The in vitro activity of the
digestive enzyme sucrase was not significantly different between treatments with high and
low TA. Analysis of the whole organism allowed us to conclude that in vitro analyses of …