Investigation on the growth of coprophagy-prevented rats with supplemented vitamin B12.

The growth of coprophagy-prevented rats was compared under administration of normal levels of vitamin B12 and supplemented amounts. Two experiments in which supplemented amounts of vitamin B12 were administered were conducted under different conditions. Six rats per group were fed under coprophagy-allowed (conventional feeding) and coprophagy-prevented conditions respectively. In the first experiment, coprophagy-prevented rats were fed only feed containing recommended vitamin B12 level and forced fed hydrous faeces, vitamin B12 and folic acid respectively. In the second experiment, coprophagy-prevented rats were fed AIN-93G at the recommended vitamin B12 level (25 microg/kg diet), at 100 times the level and at 1000 times the level respectively. Body weight, feed consumption and amounts of each faeces type were determined in both experiments. In a comparison of body weight gain, we learned that coprophagy prevention reduced the values, but that there was no significant difference in the forced feeding group in the first experiment. Similar results were recognized in the second experiment. Vitamin B12 supplementation was not able to raise feed intake significantly and hence it obviously was not a severely limiting factor under the respective experimental condition which depressed feed intake.