Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:32:17.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of dietary supplements of fish meal on the voluntary food intake of store lambs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

P. V. Tan  and
M. J. Bryant
P. V. Tan
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 2AT
M. J. Bryant
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 2AT
Get access

Absstract

Thirty-six male and thirty-six female lambs (mean live weight 31·6 kg) were used to investigate the effect of fish-meal supplementation upon voluntary intake of NaOH-treated straw in a 3 × 3 factorial experiment with three levels of fish meal (0, 45 and 90 g/day) and three allowances of concentrate (57, 10·0 and 14·3 g/kg live weight) (experiment 1). The fish meal × concentrate allowance interaction was significant (P < 0·05) for straw dry matter (DM), total DM and metabolizable energy (ME) intake. Thus, as concentrate allowance increased, straw DM intake remained largely unchanged when fish meal was included in the diet whereas concentrate progressively substituted for straw DM intake when fish meal was not included in the diet. Increasing concentrate levels increased total DM intake linearly for all levels of fish meal but the rate of increase was positively associated with level of fish meal.

In experiment 2, 24 castrated male lambs (mean live weight 40·7 kg) were used to measure apparent digestibilities and nitrogen (N) balance on four of the diets used in experiment 1. The overall effects of concentrate and fish-meal levels upon voluntary intake were similar to those found in experiment 1 but the interaction term was not significant either for intake or for the digestibility coefficients. Increasing fish-meal level increased apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM) and aciddetergent fibre (ADF) (P < 0·01) while increasing concentrate allowance increased apparent digestibility of DM (P < 0·001) and OM (P < 0·01) but decreased that of ADF (F < 0·01). Nitrogen (N) retention was improved by the inclusion of fish meal in the diet (P < 0·001) and by high allowance of concentrate (P < 0·001).

The voluntary intake response observed in experiment 1 could not be explained by the digestibility and N balance results obtained in experiment 2.

Keywords

concentratesfish mealfood intakesheepstraw
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 271 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The Nutrient Requirements of Livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Baile, C. A. and Forbes, J. M. 1974. Control of feed intake and regulation of energy balance in ruminants. Physiological Reviews 54: 160–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baumgardt, B. R. 1970. Control of feed intake in the regulation of energy balance. In Physiology of Digestion and Metabolism in the Ruminant (ed. Phillipson, A. T.), pp. 235–253. Oriel Press, Newcastle upon Tyne.Google Scholar
Cottrill, B. R., Beever, D. E., Austin, A. R. and Osbourn, D. F. 1982. The effect of protein- and non-protein-nitrogen supplements to maize silage on total amino acid supply in young cattle. British Journal of Nutrition 48: 527–541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egan, A. R. 1965. Nutritional status and intake regulation in sheep. II. The influence of sustained duodenal infusions of casein or urea upon voluntary intake of low-protein roughages by sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 16: 451–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, A. R. 1970. Nutritional status and intake regulation in sheep. VI. Evidence for variation in setting of an intake regulatory mechanism relating to the digesta content of the reticulorumen. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 21: 735–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, A. R. 1977. Nutritional status and intake regulation in sheep. VIII. Relationships between the voluntary intake of herbage by sheep and the protein/ energy ratio in the digestion products. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 28: 907–915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, A. R. and Moir, R. J. 1965. Nutritional status and intake regulation in sheep. I. Effects of duodenally infused single doses of casein, urea, and propionate upon voluntary intake of a low-protein roughage by sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 16: 437–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassan, S. A. and Bryant, M. J. 1986. The response of store lambs to protein supplementation of a roughage-based diet. Animal Production 42: 73–79.Google Scholar
Kellaway, R. C. and Leibholz, J. 1983. Effects of nitrogen supplements on intake and utilization of low-quality forages. World Animal Review 48: 33–37.Google Scholar
Kempton, T. J., Nolan, J. V. and Leng, R. A. 1977. Principles for the use of non-protein nitrogen and bypass proteins in diets of ruminants. World Animal Review 22: 2–10.Google Scholar
McAllan, A. B. and Griffith, E. S. 1987. The effects of different sources of nitrogen supplementation on the digestion of fibre components in the rumen of steers. Animal Feed Science and Technology 17: 65–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, J. R., Allen, S. A. and Miller, E. L. 1980. Rumen bacterial protein synthesis and the proportion of dietary protein escaping degradation in the rumen of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 43: 421–433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland and Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. 1984. Energy allowances and feeding systems for ruminants. Reference Book 433. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Mould, F. L., Ørskov, E. R. and Mann, S. O. 1983/1984. Associative effects of mixed feeds. 1. Effects of type and level of supplementation and the influence of rumen fluid pH on cellulolysis in vivo and dry matter digestion of various roughages. Animal Feed Science and Technology 10: 15–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, P. V. 1990. Growth, intake and rumen function in sheep offered alkali-treated straw-based diets supplemented with fish meal. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Reading.Google Scholar
Tan, P. V. and Bryant, M. J. 1991. A note on the response of store lambs to iso-nitrogenous diets containing rapeseed meal or fish meal. Animal Production 52: 395–399.Google Scholar
Tayer, S. R. and Bryant, M. J. 1988. The response of store lambs to dietary supplements of fish meal. 3. Effects of the preceding pattern of growth. Animal Production 47: 393–399.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. 1982. Nutritional Ecology of the Ruminant. O and B Books, Corvallis.Google Scholar
Yilala, K. and Bryant, M. J. 1985. The effects upon the intake and performance of store lambs of supplementing grass silage with barley, fish meal and rapeseed meal. Animal Production 40: 111–121.Google Scholar