TABLE 3.—Crude protein content of terminal 
and lateral twigs of dormant black cherry 
seedlings growing in four different areas on 
the Allegheny National Forest, Pa., 1966 
Area Buds 0-3 inch 3-6 inch 
Ter- Lat- Ter- Lat- Ter- Lat- 
minal eral minal eral minal _ eral 
Per- Per- Per- Per- Per-  Per- 
cent cent cent cent cent cent 
Klondike - 13.88 138.44 8.86 8.25 6.94) yeee 2 
Mill Greek 14.38 13.69 8.84 7.69 6:50) 22 = 
Chappel Fork 23.69 14.68 12.48 10.32 9.638 ___-- 
Camp Run 95.03 25.81 14.41 12.51 9588. 222. 
TABLE 4,—Crude protein content of terminal 
and laterial twigs collected during the growing 
season from black cherry seedlings on four 
different areas of the Allegheny National 
Forest, Pa., by date of collection, 1966 
Date of Area 
collection 0-3” 38-6” 0-3” 3-6” 
Per- Per- Per- Per- 
cent cent cent cent 
Terminal Lateral 
June 18 _. Camp Run 13.81 8.06 11.80 7.69 
June 14 __ Chappel 
Fork _._.__ 11.88 7.63 11.80 7.75 
June 21 __ Klondike... 12.06 7.50 9.63 6.44 
June 27 __ Mill Creek _. 10.63 6.50 7.81 5.25 
the apex and side twigs did not exceed 1 per- 
cent among 12 samples for each twig section. 
Crude protein values were about the same as 
those found in the seedling twigs collected in 
January. The reported high preference by deer 
for apex twigs of felled trees apparently can- 
not be explained solely by differences in the 
level of crude protein. As with all other dor- 
mant black cherry twigs, the crude protein 
level from the bud to the adjacent twig section 
sharply declined. 
In general, there was very little difference 
between corresponding twig sections of stump 
or root sprouts of beech. And there were only 
slight differences in crude protein levels be- 
tween the bud and 0-3 inch section. The range 
in protein content for all beech samples was 
6.00 to 7.56 percent. Beech is generally re- 
garded as a very low-preference deer browse, 
although the frequency of use of beech is high 
on the Allegheny National Forest, Pa. But this 
high use may be related to its relative abun- 
dance and to consistently high deer populations 
dating back to the 1930’s. 
DIGESTIVE CAPACITIES OF DEER 
AND SHEEP 
In another phase of the present studies, the 
relative digestive capacities of deer and sheep 
were compared to determine the extent to 
which existing knowledge of domestic rumi- 
nant nutrition and forage evaluation might be 
applied to the deer, and to investigate the fea- 
sibility of using sheep as experimental animals 
to evaluate deer foods. 
The two species were compared in conven- 
tional digestion trials, using total collection of 
feces, and a technique in which 2-gram sam- 
ples of forage or browse were suspended in the 
rumen through a permanent fistula in closely 
woven nylon bags, and disappearance of cellu- 
lose from the bags in 48 hours was used as a 
relative measure of digestibility. 
For the conventional digestion trial, two 
wether sheep were housed in metabolism cages 
previously described (Bratzler 1951), and two 
yearling castrate deer were housed in cages 
also previously described (Cowan et al. 1968). 
One deer and one sheep were fitted with per- 
manent rumen fistulae, which allowed the 
nylon bag technique to be used simultaneously 
with the total collection method. All animals 
were fed chopped, firstcutting timothy hay 
that had been harvested after emergence of 
heads before bloom; it contained 10.2 percent 
crude protein and 34.7 percent cellulose on the 
air-dry basis. Feces were collected for 10 days, 
following a 7-day preliminary period on the 
same level of feed intake. 
Cellulose was determined on feed and feces 
by a modification of the method of Crampton 
and Maynard (Lusk et al. 1962). Crude protein 
was determined by a modification of the Kjel- 
dahl method, and energy by means of an Emer- 
son Bomb Calorimeter. The results of the test 
indicate that deer and sheep exhibit similar 
digestive capacities for the nutrients measured 
(table 5). 
As a further test of the similarity of the 
digestive capacities of deer and sheep, the rate 
of passage of the timothy hay through the 
digestive tract of the fistulated deer and sheep 
was determined. This was accomplished by 
dyeing with basic fuchsin, a portion of one 
meal of the timothy hay fed in the conven- 
tional digestion trial, and then observing the 
time of appearance of the dyed particles in the 
feces. Details of this study will be reported 
elsewhere, but curves are presented here as 
substantiating evidence that deer and sheep 
are similar in digestive function (fig. 2). 
The number of hours required for the following was: 
Deer Sheep 
Time for initial appearance (ie. 14.0 16.0 
time to traverse omasum, abo- 
masum, and intestines). 
Time in rumen and reticulum. 33.4 35.3 
Mean time for passage of one 47.4 51.3 
meal. 
R value (mean retention time of 44.0 48.0 
stained particles). 
53 
