Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T12:14:06.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prediction of the voluntary intake of low quality roughages by sheep from chemical composition and ruminal degradation characteristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

A. Chermiti ,
A. Nefzaoui ,
E. Teller ,
M. Vanbelle ,
H. Ferchichi  and
N. Rokbani
A. Chermiti
Affiliation:
Animal Nutrition Laboratory, National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAT), Rue Hédi Karray, Ariana 2049, Tunisia
A. Nefzaoui
Affiliation:
Animal Nutrition Laboratory, National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAT), Rue Hédi Karray, Ariana 2049, Tunisia
E. Teller
Affiliation:
Catholic University of Louvain, AGRO/BNUT, Place Croix du Sud 2/8. 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
M. Vanbelle
Affiliation:
Catholic University of Louvain, AGRO/BNUT, Place Croix du Sud 2/8. 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
H. Ferchichi
Affiliation:
Animal Nutrition Laboratory, National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAT), Rue Hédi Karray, Ariana 2049, Tunisia
N. Rokbani
Affiliation:
Feed Resources Direction, Office de l'Elevage et des Pâturages, Alain Savory, Tunis, Tunisia
Get access

Abstract

Six cereal straws and two traditional hays were used to study the relationship between voluntary dry matter (DM) intake and chemical composition and ruminal degradation characteristics. The voluntary DM intake was measured during 60 days using Barbarin adult ewes given food individually in four groups of six animals. The forages were offered to the ewes twice daily and were supplemented with 10 g DM of soya-bean meal per kg M0·75 per day and 30 g per ewe per day of a commercial mixture of minerals and vitamins. The chemical composition and the leaf/stem (L/S) ratio of the forages were determined. Their ruminal degradation characteristics were measured by using the nylon bag technique according to the exponential model Dg = a + b (1 – e−ct). Crude protein contents of straws ranged from 22 to 35 g/kg DM and that of hays from 35 to 57 g/kg DM. The corresponding values of L/S ratio varied from 0·68 to 0·88. The voluntary DM intake was highly variable and the hays were ingested at greater amounts than the straws, although their degradable (b) and their rate of digestion (c) were not significantly different (P > 0·05).

Significant relationships were established between voluntary DM intake and the neutral-detergent fibre (R2 = −0·72; P < 0·001), acid-detergent fibre (R2 = −0·75; P < 0·001) and a values (R2 = 0·83; P < 0·001). The precision of the prediction was significantly improved using ruminal degradation characteristics (Syx = 4·42) compared with the chemical composition (Syx = 5·60).

Keywords

food intakehayrumen degradationsheepstraw
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 57 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1996

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

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. Nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1975. Official methods of analysis. 12th ed. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Carro, M. D., Lopez, S., Gonzalez, J. S. and Ovejero, F. J. 1991. The use of the rumen degradation characteristics of hays as predictors of their voluntary intake by sheep. Animal Production 52:133–139.Google Scholar
Demarquilly, C. and Andrieu, J. 1988. Les fourrages. In Alimentation des besoins, ovins et caprins (ed. Jarrige, R.), pp. 315–349. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Paris.Google Scholar
Ellis, W. C., Wylie, M. J. and Matis, J. H. 1987. Dietary-digestive interactions determining the feeding value of forages and roughages. In Feed science (ed. Ørskov, E. R.), pp. 177–225. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Goering, H. K. and Van Soest, P. J. 1970. Forage fibre analysis. Agricultural handbook, U.S. Department of Agriculture, no. 379.Google Scholar
Greenhalgh, J. F. D. and Reid, G. W. 1973. The effects of pelleting various diets on intake and digestibility in sheep and cattle. Animal Production 16: 223–233.Google Scholar
Hovell, F. D. De B., Ngambi, J. W. W., Barber, W. P. and Kyle, D. J. 1986. The voluntary intake of hay by sheep in relation to its degradability in the rumen as measured in nylon bags. Animal Production 42:111–118.Google Scholar
Jarrige, R. 1988. Alimentation des bovins, ovins et caprins. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Paris.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. 1981. Equations for predicting silage intake by beef and dairy cattle. Proceedings of the sixth silage conference, Edinburgh, pp. 35–36.Google Scholar
Lopez, S., Carro, M. D., Gonzalez, J. S. and Ovejero, F. J. 1989. The possibility of predicting the sheep dry-matter intake of hays from their degradation characteristics. Animal Production 46: 638 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Michalet-Doreau, B. and Gatel, F. 1988. Evolution au cours d'une année des quantités de foin ingérées par des béliérs castres. Annales de Zootechnie, 37: 151–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ørskov, E. R. 1987. Feeding of ruminants: principles and practice. Chalcombe Publications.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R. and McDonald, I. 1979. The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighted according to rate of passage. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92: 499–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Reid, G. W. and Kay, M. 1988. Prediction of intake by cattle from degradation characteristics of roughages. Animal Production 46: 29–34.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., and Ryle, M. 1990. Energy nutrition in ruminants. Elsevier Applied Science, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Ramanzin, M., Ørskov, E. R. and Tuah, A. K. 1986. Rumen degradation of straw. 2. Botanical fractions of straw from two barley cultivars. Animal Production 43: 271–278.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1982. SAS user's guide. Statistical Analysis Systems Institute, Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Teller, E., Vanbelle, M. and Kamatali, P. 1993. Chewing behaviour and voluntary intake of grass silage by cattle. Livestock Production Science 33: 215–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troelsen, J. E. and Campbell, J. B. 1967. Voluntary consumption of forages by sheep and its relation to the size and shape of particles in the digestive tract. Animal Production 10: 289–296.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. 1982. Nutritional ecology of ruminants. O & Books, Corvalis, OR.Google Scholar
Xandé, A. 1978. Valeur alimentaire des pailles de céréales chez le mouton. 1. Influence de la complémentation azotée et énergétique sur l'ingestion et l'utilisation digestive d'une paille d'orge. Annales de Zootechnie 27: 583–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar