The Company of Biologists

Table·2.

Body mass and food intake of Sephanoides sephaniodes during the last day of acclimation on artificial diets of different nitrogen concentration

	Diet (% N)									ANCOVA^{^*}
Number of birds:	N-0 (0%) 10	N-1 (1.2%) 8	N-2 (2.3%) 6	N-5 (4.7%) 6	N-11 (11.2%) 8	F_4,30	P
Body mass M_b (g)
Last day	5.26±0.16^a	5.54±0.06^b	6.13±0.02^b	6.30±0.12^b	6.24±0.21^b	24.95	<0.0001
Daily increase	0.77±0.10^a,b	1.11±0.11^a,b	0.65±0.11^a	0.56±0.08^a	1.02±0.10^b	4.52	0.006
Final - initial	−0.91±0.09^a	−0.36±0.05^b	−0.11±0.15^b	0.07±0.14^c	0.01±0.08^b,c	7.38	<0.001
Food intake (ml·day⁻¹)	7.65±0.16^a	7.89±0.74^a	10.05±0.09^a,b	10.33±0.11^a,b	12.3±0.22^b	5.45	0.001
Energy
Intake (kJ·day⁻¹)	31.97±2.86^a	33.27±3.32^a,b	42.72±3.47^b,c	44.52±3.31^c	53.01±2.93^c	6.39	<0.001
Digestibility (%)	0.99±0.001^a	0.98±0.001^b	0.98±0.002^b	0.97±0.001^b	0.93±0.002^c	65.2	<0.001
Assimilated (kJ·day⁻¹)	31.33±2.86^a	32.91±4.42^a,b	41.87±3.60^a,b	43.27±3.26^a,b	48.55±3.27^c	5.19	0.002
Nitrogen
Intake (mg·day⁻¹)	0^a	5.16±0.42^a,b	9.26±0.65^b	17.56±1.41^c	50.06±4.52^d	87.49	<0.001
Digestibility (%)	-	0.59±0.04^a,b	0.68±0.07^a	0.55±0.03^a,b	0.48±0.03^b	5.77	0.005
Assimilated (mg·day⁻¹)	−1.33±0.16^a	2.89±0.40^b	6.80±0.66^b,c	10.96±1.23^c	22.92±1.61^d	71.02	<0.001

	Diet (% N)									ANCOVA^{^*}
Number of birds:	N-0 (0%) 10	N-1 (1.2%) 8	N-2 (2.3%) 6	N-5 (4.7%) 6	N-11 (11.2%) 8	F_4,30	P
Body mass M_b (g)
Last day	5.26±0.16^a	5.54±0.06^b	6.13±0.02^b	6.30±0.12^b	6.24±0.21^b	24.95	<0.0001
Daily increase	0.77±0.10^a,b	1.11±0.11^a,b	0.65±0.11^a	0.56±0.08^a	1.02±0.10^b	4.52	0.006
Final - initial	−0.91±0.09^a	−0.36±0.05^b	−0.11±0.15^b	0.07±0.14^c	0.01±0.08^b,c	7.38	<0.001
Food intake (ml·day⁻¹)	7.65±0.16^a	7.89±0.74^a	10.05±0.09^a,b	10.33±0.11^a,b	12.3±0.22^b	5.45	0.001
Energy
Intake (kJ·day⁻¹)	31.97±2.86^a	33.27±3.32^a,b	42.72±3.47^b,c	44.52±3.31^c	53.01±2.93^c	6.39	<0.001
Digestibility (%)	0.99±0.001^a	0.98±0.001^b	0.98±0.002^b	0.97±0.001^b	0.93±0.002^c	65.2	<0.001
Assimilated (kJ·day⁻¹)	31.33±2.86^a	32.91±4.42^a,b	41.87±3.60^a,b	43.27±3.26^a,b	48.55±3.27^c	5.19	0.002
Nitrogen
Intake (mg·day⁻¹)	0^a	5.16±0.42^a,b	9.26±0.65^b	17.56±1.41^c	50.06±4.52^d	87.49	<0.001
Digestibility (%)	-	0.59±0.04^a,b	0.68±0.07^a	0.55±0.03^a,b	0.48±0.03^b	5.77	0.005
Assimilated (mg·day⁻¹)	−1.33±0.16^a	2.89±0.40^b	6.80±0.66^b,c	10.96±1.23^c	22.92±1.61^d	71.02	<0.001

Numbers in parentheses in the first row indicate final number of individuals assigned to each treatment.

Values are means ± 1 s.e.m. and different letters show significant differences (Tukey test).

Significant differences between diets were tested using one-way ANCOVA with final body mass as covariate.