The significance of chicory to the diet of common duiker at Grants valley, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

摘要

South Africa is considered one of the top four chicory (Chichorium intybus) producing countries of the world and commercial growing of the plant in the country is restricted to a small area in three districts of the Eastern Cape Province. Faecal analysis technique was used to study the diet of common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia Linnaeus, 1758) in a chicory growing region at Grants valley. One of the principal items in the diet of these antelopes was chicory and the crop provided more than one third (35.6%) of the winter diet and a substantial proportion (14.4%) of the spring diet of common duiker. These findings confirmed earlier reports of common duiker feeding on cultivated crops and may have profound implications for the South African chicory industry. The study also confirmed earlier findings that common duiker are selective feeders and predominantly browsers, consuming only a very small proportion of monocotyledonous plants.