Tolerance of bitter compounds by an herbivore, Cavia porcellus

Many plant defensive chemicals are bitter to humans. Because of this taste characteristic, and because bitter compounds are often toxic, such substances, and the plants that contain them, are regarded as generally unpalatable to wildlife. These assumptions may be unwarranted. To test the hypothesis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical ecology 1994-02, Vol.20 (2), p.303-308
Main Authors: Nolte, D.L, Mason, J.R, Lewis, S.L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACIDE AMINE
AMINOACIDOS
Animal ethology
Biological and medical sciences
CARBOHIDRATOS
Cavia porcellus
COBAYA
COBAYE
COMPORTEMENT ALIMENTAIRE
FLAVONOIDE
FLAVONOIDES
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
GLICOSIDOS
GLUCIDE
GLYCOSIDE
HABITOS ALIMENTARIOS
Mammalia
MONOTERPENE
MONOTERPENOS
PEPTIDE
PEPTIDOS
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
QUINOLEINE
QUINOLINAS
TANINOS
TANNIN
Vertebrata
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Summary:Many plant defensive chemicals are bitter to humans. Because of this taste characteristic, and because bitter compounds are often toxic, such substances, and the plants that contain them, are regarded as generally unpalatable to wildlife. These assumptions may be unwarranted. To test the hypothesis that herbivores are indifferent to 'bitter' tastants, we investigated the responsiveness of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) to denatonium benzoate, denatonium saccharide, limonene, L-phenylalanine, naringin, quebracho, quinine, Ro-Pel (a commercial animal repellent containing denatonium saccharide) and sucrose octaacetate. Only quinine and sucrose octaacetate slightly but significantly reduced feeding (P 0.05). Our findings are inconsistent with the notion that herbivores generally avoid what humans describe as bitter tastes
ISSN:0098-0331
1573-1561
DOI:10.1007/BF02064438