A new technique for measuring size distributions of fine ingesta/digesta particles

Techniques were developed to enable convenient, high-power image analysis of (ingested) food material. A constant volume of diluted gut sample was delivered to a large microscope slide before being slowly evaporated in still air to leave all particles statically on the same focal plane. Evaporation also allowed a meniscus to develop around each particle, forcing them to separate and thereby preventing overlap and aggregation of particles. Sub-samples were measured under four high-power magnifications (2050, 1290, 510 and 190) to permit precise estimates of size distributions of the very small particles. The techniques developed avoid the need for large ingesta/digesta samples, sieving, and filtering, all of which have limited previous studies.