View article

New Zealand White rabbits were fed on a diet containing lucerne meal 10 or 60, ground barley 71.5 or 22.5, soyabean meal 10 or 10, vegetable oil 2 or 2, molasses 5 or 5, trace mineral salts 0.5 or 0.5 and dicalcium phosphate 1 or 0%. Diets contained copper 480 and 510 mg/kg, respectively. The high-fibre, lucerne diet did not promote increased faecal excretion of copper, but it increased Cu absorption. Caecotrophy was not a major factor in regulating Cu absorption. In rabbits in which caecotrophy was prevented, Cu excretion was not different from that in those allowed to eat their caecotrophes.