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Response of pigs to bitter-tasting compounds
1Procter & Gamble Company, Health Care Research Center, Mason, OH 45040, USA.
Chemical Senses
|April 1, 1997
Summary
Pigs can detect bitter tastes, similar to humans. They avoid bitter compounds, and their responses vary with concentration, indicating a measurable bitter taste perception.
Area of Science:
- Animal behavior
- Sensory science
- Chemoreception
Background:
- Understanding animal taste perception is crucial for various applications, including animal husbandry and drug development.
- Pigs possess a complex sensory system, but their specific perception of bitter compounds requires further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the ability of pigs to detect and discriminate between various bitter-tasting compounds.
- To determine if pigs exhibit avoidance behavior towards bitter substances.
Main Methods:
- Two-bottle preference tests were conducted using four standard bitter compounds and nine bitter pharmaceutical compounds.
- Varying concentrations of bitter tastants were presented to assess dose-response relationships.
Main Results:
- Pigs demonstrated a clear ability to detect and avoid bitter-tasting compounds.
- The pigs' avoidance behavior showed a dose-dependent response to the concentration of bitter tastants.
- The detected bitter compounds align with those perceived as bitter by humans.
Conclusions:
- Pigs possess a functional bitter taste system analogous to humans.
- This bitter taste perception can be quantified, allowing for dose-response assessments.
- Findings have implications for feed formulation and pharmaceutical administration in pigs.