Meeting Abstract

58.5  Saturday, Jan. 5  Nutritional quality of bamboo for single-source foragers: disturbance and temporal effects. PARSONS, J.L.*; BALDWIN, B.S.; OUELLETTE, J.R.; RUDE, B.J.; Mississippi State Univ.; Mississippi State Univ.; Mississippi State Univ.; Mississippi State Univ. jlp418@msstate.edu

Clonal plants such as bamboo show temporal oscillations in aboveground resources, as reserves flux among leaf, stalk, and belowground compartments. Knowledge of changes in forage quality is central to an understanding of the physiology and behavior of animals consuming bamboo-only diets, most of which are highly endangered. Data from the first 2 years of a 3-year study of Phyllostachys bamboos were analyzed for effects of disturbance intensity, season, age class, and stage of growth on proximate nutrient composition, with the goal of identifying potential influences on forage palatability. Bamboo leaf composition ranged from 8 to 25% protein, 5 to 25% ash, 60 to 80% neutral-detergent fiber (NDF), 25 to 40% acid-detergent fiber (ADF), and 4 to 15% lipid. Culm (central stalk) was 0.5 to 4.5% protein, 1 to 4% ash, 85 to 95% NDF, 55 to 75% ADF, and 2 to 7.5% lipid. Shoots were 7 to 35% protein, 3 to 10% ash, 40 to 85% NDF, 15 to 70% ADF, and 7 to 16% lipid. We did not detect disturbance effects at this stage, but we did find temporal effects on nutritional quality. Bamboo contained more fiber and less protein, ash, and lipid as it matured within a single year (P < 0.001); less ADF and more protein, NDF, and lipid as it aged from year to year (P < 0.026); and more protein and lipid in spring (Feb-May), less ADF in spring, and more NDF in summer (Jun-Sept; P < 0.001). These changes may explain diet selection patterns among giant pandas and possibly other bamboo specialists. However, an understanding of micronutrient and allelochemical alterations is also necessary to fully comprehend the influence of a sole dietary source on specialist consumers, and will be addressed in future phases of this study.