A Preliminary Study to Measure Protein, Fat and Moisture in Whole Mice and Rats by Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

Citation

Valdes EV, Dierenfeld ES, Oyarzun SE. 1995. A preliminary study to measure protein fat and moisture in whole mice and rats by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. In Proceedings of the First Conference on Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition, AZA Nutrition Advisory Group, Scarborough, OT.

Abstract

Whole mice and rats were analyzed using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIR) to measure percent protein (Pr), percent fat (FAT) and percent moisture (MST). The NIR calibrations for Pr, FAT and MST were developed using 34 samples including mice and rats of different ages. The accuracy of the calibrations was assessed by calculating the residual standard deviation (RSD) and the bias or the average difference between the laboratory and the NIR values. The prediction of Pr, FAT and MST showed RSD of 1.72%, 1.62% and .22%, respectively, indicating the usefulness of the NIR technique for measuring chemical composition in whole animals. NIR is a technique that is characterized by being fast, accurate and of low operational costs and should be investigated further in nutritional studies in captive feeding programs.

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