Carnivorous plants have evolved in nutrient-poor wetland habitats. They capture arthropod prey, which
is an additional source of plant growth limiting nutrients. One of them is nitrogen, which occurs in the
form of chitin and proteins in prey carcasses. In this study, the nutritional value of chitin and protein and
their digestion traits in the carnivorous sundew Drosera capensis L. were estimated using stable nitrogen
isotope abundance. Plants fed on chitin derived 49% of the leaf nitrogen from chitin, while those fed on
the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) derived 70% of its leaf nitrogen from this. Moreover, leaf nitrogen
content doubled in protein-fed in comparison to chitin-fed plants indicating that the proteins
were digested more effectively in comparison to chitin and resulted in significantly higher chlorophyll
contents. The surplus chlorophyll and absorbed nitrogen from the protein digestion were incorporated
into photosynthetic proteins e the light harvesting antennae of photosystem II. The incorporation of
insect nitrogen into the plant photosynthetic apparatus may explain the increased rate of photosynthesis
and plant growth after feeding. This general response in many genera of carnivorous plants has been
reported in many previous studies.