Factors affecting diet selection by sheep. 1. Potential intake rate and acceptability of feed

1984 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 551 ◽  
Author(s):  
PA Kenney ◽  
JL Black

In experiment 1, potential intake rates of several dried forages, varying widely in nutritive value, were measured by offering each alone to six hungry sheep for eight, separate 1-min periods. Intake rates ranged from 5.5 to 26.1 g/min, but, within each forage, it varied little between sheep (c.v. 13%) or between measurements with the same sheep (c.v. 8%). The forages were then offered in pairs in separate containers and preference for one forage was defined as the percentage of total intake derived from that forage. With the exception of a dried clover pasture, preference for a forage was strongly related to the rate at which it could be eaten. Reducing the length of wheaten straw particles from 30 to 10 mm increased intake rate from 5.5 to 12.4 g/min and resulted in an absolute preference for the short material. The mean preference for a forage over all comparisons was more strongly correlated with intake rate of the forage (r2 = 0.87) than with in vitro digestibility of organic matter (r2 = 0.30). In experiment 2, two wheaten straws and two wheaten hays were each chopped to two lengths and, within each forage, mixed (w/w) in the short : long ratios of 0 : 1, 1 : 2, 2 : 1 and 1 : 0. Mean intake rates were 7.3 and 12.5 g/min for the two straws and 15.7 and 23.2 g/min for the two hays. Within each forage, all mixtures were offered in pairs to establish preference. The slopes of regression equations relating preference (%) to intake rate (g/min) were 21.4, 17.0, 5.9 and 2.7 (%.min/g) for the four forages as mean intake rate increased from 7.3 to 23 2 g/min, which indicates that discrimination between forages with the same difference in intake rate was greater when mean intake rate was low. In experiment 3, finely ground clover pasture, lucerne hay, wheaten hay or wheaten straw were added to a base diet of either chopped lucerne or wheaten straw in the ratio 1 : 10. Although the additive had little effect on intake rate, sheep preferred lucerne to clover pasture and wheaten hay to wheaten straw. Equations developed from the results of experiment 2 to predict the preference for one forage over another on the basis of their relative intake rates, showed fair agreement with observations from experiment 1, particularly when the effects of acceptability factors such as taste, odour or feel were translated into differences in potential intake rate.

Author(s):  
Ali Ameen Saeed ◽  
Saja Intisar Abid

This study was conducted in Nutrition Lab. to investigate the effect of the type and level of substitution of urea with ruminant manure, M (sheep, cow and buffalo) on basis of nitrogen (N) content on the nutritive value of rice straw silage (RSS). Accordingly silages were nominated as, S-RSS, C-RSS and B-RSS. Urea (U) was substituted with dried manure at 6 combinations, 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50 of U:M. Silage samples were prepared by treating chopped straw with pre-treated solution contained 10% low quality debis and 2% urea. Results showed that lower (P˂0.01) DM loss (11.4%) was observed in S-RSS, and with addition of urea only (3.6%).        Samples of S-RSS and C-RSS recorded higher (P˂0.01) Fleig points (Fp) as compared with those prepared by the addition of B-RSS, 60.42, 55.58 and 49.59 respectively. Reduction (P˂0.01) in this parameter was noticed in samples prepared with a combination of 100:0. Aerobic stability (AS) was a reduced (P˂0.01) in samples prepared by addition of S-RSS by 15 and 13 hours in comparison with samples of C-RSS and B-RSS respectively. Samples prepared with combination of 100:0 were prior (P˂0.01) as compared with other samples.        Results also showed an increase (P˂0.01) in in vitro digestibility of organic matter (IVOMD) in samples of S-RSS in comparison with samples prepared by addition of C-RSS and B-RSS, 49.99, 44.59 and 42.77% respectively. Samples prepared with combination of 100:0 recorded lower (P˂0.05) in vitro digestibility of dry matter (IVDMD) as compared with combinations of 70:30 and 60:40 of U: M, 40.52, 45.36 and 45.94% respectively.


1973 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-243
Author(s):  
H. Elsayed Osman ◽  
B. A. Amin

SummarySix successive trials with three adult rams (Sudan desert sheep) were conducted with the main object of finding a suitable index for the prediction of the nutritive value of protein in non-legumes for ruminants.The mean change in the concentration of ruminal ammonia, blood urea and ruminal V. F. A. 3 h after feeding legumes was considerably greater than after feeding the nonleguminous hays. Among the legumes berseem hay gave the least change in the concentration of ruminal ammonia, blood urea and V. E. A. The leguminous hays produced more gas underin vitroconditions than the non-legumes. Berseem hay produced the greatest volume of gas. Butterfly pea hay and lubia hay gave more or less similar results. Among the non-legumes the desert grasses gave the lowest values.Of all the feeds studied maize hay gave the highest nitrogen retention, followed by berseem hay. Despite this superiority of maize hay, the overall mean nitrogen retention of legumes was much greater than that of the non-legumes. Among the non-legumes dry desert grasses displayed a negative nitrogen balance.Regression equations based on the present data indicated that nitrogen retention only of leguminous hays could be always predicted from changes in blood urea concentrations. The present results also showed that the nitrogen retention of non-legumes and to a lesser extent that of all feeds taken together (i. e. legumes and non-legumes) can be assessed by using volume of gas producedin vitro(i. e. rate ofin vitrofermentation).


1993 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Meuret ◽  
P. Dardenne ◽  
R. Biston ◽  
O. Poty

To upgrade grazing management recommendations in the Mediterranean area, one needs to assess the nutritive value of woody foliages including their changes over time and with location. Using a wide range of native and cultivated foliages, our objective was to evaluate the potential of near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy to determine foliage chemistry and in vitro digestibility for ruminants. The samples, representative of small ruminant eating bites, were divided into the different plant parts. Samples were carefully conditioned, being air-dried at 60°C; drying times were individually varied to ensure complete dehydration without excessive heating. Samples were analysed for organic matter (OM), nitrogen (N), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and in vitro digestibility with a pepsin–cellulase method developed for forages (IVDMD). NIR scans were made with an NIRSystems 5000 instrument and data analysis was performed using ISI software. Partial least squares (PLS) regression equations were developed for IVDMD and each constituent. Nine mathematical treatments, with and without scatter correction, were compared. The database of woody foliage spectra and a reference fodder database were compared in two ways: the first involved a comparison of the spectral variation in each collection while the second measured the Mahalanobis distance of each spectrum in one database from the average spectrum in the other. In the case of N, a broad-based calibration was compared with others derived from various sample sub-sets; these latter were formed either according to sample type or following a proximity analysis of five spectral groups by principal component analysis. NIR predictions of IVDMD were applied to describe the effect of phenological changes in the edible parts of Quercus pubescens Willd. The foliage base is very heterogeneous and wider than the reference fodder base. The fodder base variation does not include the foliage samples. The lowest standard errors of calibration (SEC) and cross-validation (SECV) are comparable to literature results on forest leaves, but better for lignin (SECV of 1.5 compared to SEC values of 2.5–2.9). SECV for IVDMD is satisfactory at almost 2.0 because this value is similar to precision data normally reported for in vitro digestibility estimations on narrower sample sets than the current one. The broad-based calibration for N gave similar or lower standard errors to those obtained using sample sub-sets. One can show that IVDMD values for Quercus pubescens leaves decrease from 65 to 15% with increasing maturity; leaf IVDMD values are approximately 15% higher than the previous year's stem value from May until October. NIR spectroscopy appears to be an adequate technique for the prediction of the nutritive value of Mediterranean foliages from trees and shrubs, with a reliability similar to that obtained from classical fodder analysis procedures. This study shows that broad-based calibrations with PLS regression could be made on extremely diverse sets of data (IVDMD ranging from 28 to 94%), grouping distinct edible plant parts within the same data base.


1962 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 692-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Bezeau ◽  
A. Johnston

The in vitro digestibility of cellulose was determined for 20 grasses, 6 f orbs, and 6 miscellaneous browse species of the Festuca scabrella association of southwestern Alberta. From this was calculated the "Nutritive Value Index" (N.V.I.) and percentage of digestible protein. The mean N.V.I. and the mean digestible protein of the four cultivated grasses, Bromus inermis, Elymus junceus, Festuca rubra, and Phleum pratense, at each stage of growth, was higher than the respective mean of the native species of grasses. However, Bromus pumpellianus, a native species, had a higher mean N.V.I. for all stages of growth than any of the other grasses studied. The forbs as a class were equal or superior to the grasses in N.V.I. and percentage of digestible protein. It is suggested that other factors such as palatability, toxicity, and regional adaptation should be considered before a species is adequately evaluated as a range forage.


1983 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-162
Author(s):  
Matti Näsi

The extraction of protein from leaves of two energy willow clones (Salic cv. Aquatica and S. viminalis) and the chemical composition and nutritive value of the leaf fractions were investigated in six experiments. The preservation of leaf juice and wet leaf protein concentrate (LPC) was also studied. The extraction of juice averaged 33 % of the fresh weight, and the extraction ratios of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) were 10.5 % and 2.9 %. The percentages of juice DM, CP and TP (true protein) separated in LPC were 6 %, 21 % and 48 %, respectively. The separation values were higher when LPC was precipitated by heating than by acidification. Removal of nutrients from the leaves was low and there were only minor differences in composition between the pressed pulp and the leaves. The leaf juice contained 8.3 % DM, of which 20.9 % was ash, 4.9 % CP, 1.9 % TP and 43.2 % sugars. The LPC had an average DM content of 19.6 %, CP being 21.4 % and TP 19.5 % of DM. The in vitro digestibility and pepsin-HCI-solubility of the protein were low. The mean tannin content of the LPC averaged 3.6 % of DM. The mean lysine and methionine contents of the LPC were low, 3.3 and 1.5 g/16 g N, respectively. The preservation of the leaf juice was satisfactory even without addition of preservative. Preservation of wet LPC was good with additives used at the 1.0 % v/w level. Leaf protein extraction was low and the nutritive value of LPC was not particularly high. This may have been partly due to the late date of harvesting and to the fact that the leaves were frozen for storage.


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 47-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Forejtová ◽  
F. Lád ◽  
J. Třináctý ◽  
M. Richter ◽  
L. Gruber ◽  
...  

A total of 36 samples of feed &ndash; 19 samples of hays and 17 samples of silages were used for estimation of in vivo and in vitro digestibility. The organic matter digestibility (OMD) was estimated by in vivo and two in vitro techniques (method of Tilley and Terry and two-stage pepsin-cellulase method (Pepcel)). The regression equations were calculated from the results obtained in the experiment. Tilley and Terry method provided consistent results of OMD estimation for both the groups of roughages: in vivo OMD = 14.7 + 0.782 &times; [Tilley and Terry] (n = 18; R<sup>2</sup> = 0.76); in vivo OMD = 36.3 + 0.513 &times; [Tilley and Terry] (n = 16; R<sup>2</sup> = 0.75) for hays and silages, respectively. Different accuracy was found out in Pepcel method: in vivo OMD = 37.0 + 0.478 &times; [Pepcel] (n = 19; R<sup>2</sup> = 0.49); in vivo OMD = 37.8 + 0.484 &times; [Pepcel] (n = 17; R<sup>2</sup> = 0.87) for hays and silages, respectively. &nbsp; &nbsp;


Author(s):  
Ivana VITASOVIĆ KOSIĆ ◽  
Darko GRBEŠA ◽  
Mihaela BRITVEC

The aim of this study was to research the chemical composition, in-vitro digestibility of the organic matter (IVOMD) and net energy for lactation (NEL) contained in the samples of botanical functional groups, located in the Mediterranean-mountain grasslands on the Ćićarija mountainous plateau in Croatia.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.C. De Blas ◽  
C.A. Rodriguez ◽  
F. Bacha ◽  
R. Fernandez ◽  
R. Abad-Guamán

<p>Olive cake is one of the main agro-industrial co-products in the Mediterranean area of Spain, with high availability almost all year round. In addition, most of the product is dehydrated, which increases its interest in monogastric species such as rabbits. Nineteen samples from various Spanish oil mills using different processing methods were analysed for their chemical composition and in vitro digestibility. The average composition was [in dry matter (DM) basis]: ash (9.64%), neutral detergent fibre (52.0%), acid detergent fibre (36.8%), acid detergent lignin (19.1%), crude protein (CP) (11.3%), insoluble neutral (8.0%) and acid detergent crude protein (5.15%), ether extract (10.9%) and gross energy (21.9 MJ/kg). DM and CP in vitro digestibility were, on av., 53.4 and 41.4% respectively. High variability was observed among the samples for most of the traits studied. Fibrous fractions were highly correlated among them and negatively with ether extract content, whereas CP was little related to other feed components. A stepwise regression analysis allowed us to determine regression equations to predict DM and CP in vitro digestibilities from chemical composition (R2=0.80 and 0.91, respectively). As regards the current results, olive cake has potential use for rabbits as a source of insoluble fibre and lignin. Crude samples (not oil extracted) combined with sieving to retain the smaller particles have an additional interest, because of their higher energy value and significant supply of high quality fat.</p>


1966 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Langlands

Freshly-cut forages and lucerne chaff were given to penned sheep fistulated at the oesophagus. The feed given and the samples obtained through the fistula were analysed for in vitro digestibility, nitrogen, ash, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and calcium. Organic matter digestibility was predicted from the in vitro determination.Three regression equations were calculated relating predicted organic matter digestibility of the feed to the digestibility of the extrusa sample. The most precise of these equations had a residual standard deviation of ±3·4 units.The relationship between the nitrogen contents of the feed and sample was calculated. The equation did not pass through the origin but the differences in nitrogen content between feed and extrusa were small over the range 4·69 to 1·28% N included in this study. The nitrogen and calcium contents of the feed could be estimated from the sample with errors of ±7·5 and 9% respectively. The sodium, potassium and ash contents of the diet could not be reliably estimated from an oesophageal sample.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1441
Author(s):  
Youssef Chebli ◽  
Samira El Otmani ◽  
Mouad Chentouf ◽  
Jean-Luc Hornick ◽  
Jean-François Cabaraux

Forest rangelands contribute largely to goat diets in the Mediterranean area. Information about browsed plant quality is essential for adequate feeding management. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the temporal changes in chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of the main plant species selected by goats in the Southern Mediterranean forest rangeland during two consecutive years; these were very contrasted (dry and wet). The browsed species were composed of herbaceous, eleven shrubs, and four tree species. Overall, large variability in chemical composition, in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), and metabolizable energy (ME) was observed among species, grazing season (spring, summer, and autumn), and years within each species. Crude protein (CP) content varied from 60 to 240 g/kg dry matter (DM). The fiber fractions, except for Quercus suber, increased significantly by advancing maturity. Due to the water stress, the lignin level presented a higher value during the spring of the dry year. Condensed tannin (CT) content varied from 2 to 184 g/kg DM. CP, IVOMD, and ME showed a negative correlation with lignin and CT. Based on the results presented herein, it is concluded that the nutritive value of the browsed plant species was highest in the spring and lowest during the summer and autumn of both studied years. With a good grazing management strategy, the selected plant species by goats could guarantee high-quality feeding resources throughout the year.


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