Faecal recovery of alkanes
Mean faecal recoveries of alkanes in the crate sheep did not differ significantly between the four dietary
treatments and pooled means (±s.e.) are shown in Table 2. Recoveries of the natural alkanes increased with
increasing carbon-chain length, in a curvilinear fashion similar to that described previously (Mayes et al.
1986; Dove and Mayes 1996). The faecal recovery of C32 and C36 alkanes from the intra-ruminal CRD
conformed closely to the pattern noted for the natural alkanes and, for C36 alkane, was essentially complete.
By contrast, the recoveries of C28 alkane and especially C38 alkane, sprayed onto the SFM with the
beeswax, were lower than those found for adjacent natural alkanes.