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Hi Randy & All, Jan 12, 2008
While it is true that starch is a common storage carbohydrate,
soluble sugars are the building blocks and are present especially when
starches are being formed or used.
With respect to sucrose, Bonner and Varner (Plant Biochemistry,
1965, 1054 p.) observe that "Sucrose... is by far the most commonly
found disaccharide in nature, its distribution being universal among
photosynthetic plants."
Hydrolysis of sucrose is spontaneous in the presence of weak acid
so, although the process would take time, the formation of
monosaccharides from sucrose would not consume metabolic energy. I dare
say birds and ancestors, over evolutionary time, would have encountered
sucrose and common salt on a more regular basis than they would have
encountered suet.
Yt, DW, Kentville
Randy Lauff wrote:
> I wonder about the need to add sugar, as some recipees call for (and I
> wonder more strongly about adding salt). There is little free sucrose
> (table sugar) in wild foods...I think most carbohydrate that is
> stored is stored as starch...but I'm open to hear from someone more
> botannically inclined than me on this. (The notable exceptions being
> sugar cane and sugar beets...not likely candidates as wild food up
> here). Undoubtedly, the birds can digest sucrose, but do they have
> enough machinery (enzymes) to deal with the load that the recipees
> call for? Is the salt in suet recipees there for the birds, or as a
> preservative? Again, I doubt the birds need the excess sodium or
> chloride (the two bits that make up table salt). Or is it the added
> Iodine that is thought to be a benefit (that written a bit
> tongue-in-cheek)?
>
>
> The good news to my story is that the butcher had about 5 kilos ground
> up for me on Friday morning (about $7). The birds had not touched that
> cherry/millet/suet mix (I had to remove it from my suet log) but they
> did feed on the Maple Leaf suet/flour mix). This morning, I could
> ~almost~ see the woodpeckers smiling (I have seen four hairies at once
> so far!), and they seemed content.
>
>
>
> Randy
> _________________________________
> RF Lauff
> Way in the boonies of
> Antigonish County, NS.
>
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