It is necessary to carry out a study that focuses on the morphometrical parameters of the gastrointestinal tract (TGI), which can provide subsidies for getting knowledge about the digestive processes that happen into the animal organism. Bimontly, it was sampled 100 P. expansa hatchlings, which were randomly captured from eight commercial flocks located at the county of Diorama, State of Goiás/Brazil. The experiment was conducted with animals of 23 to 29 months of ages, from which the biometrical measures were taken, in order to evaluate their growth performances. It was taken two biometrical measures, that is, the carapace rectlineal length - in milimeters, and the weight gain- in grams. Aiming at the calculation of the body relationships, it was taken, as a basis, the individual gross weight of five hatchlings, from each one of the studied ages, totalizing an amount of four crops of 20 specimens from each involved commercial flock. The comparison analyses of the averages were accomplished by Duncan test. Based upon the relations between the empty TGI and the whole body, the results pointed out that the stomach corresponded to the major portion of the digestive tract, that reached 44.20% of it. Second, came the small gut, that reached 28.48% of it, followed by the large gut, that reached 20.93% of the digestive tract. The full TGI showed a mean lenght of 72.75 cm. As for the small gut, it was obtained an average length of 46.68 cm and, as for the large gut, it was observed an average lenght of 14.00 cm. The body relation analyses indicated that the stomach and the small gut showed the best storage capacities and, this result suggests that those viscera play an important role in the food digestion.
Podocnemis expansa; morphometrics; management in captivity
