Diet composition, herbage intake and digestibility in Inner Mongolian Cashmere goats grazing on native Leymus chinensis plant communities

Sun, Zewei; Zhou, Daowei; Ferreira, L. M. M.; Zhong, Qingzhen; Lou, Yujie

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2007.09.018

Cited by 19 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…According to their chemical composition (Table 1), CRL can be classified as a very fibrous feedstuff, with values close to those found by Sun et al (2008) but for the whole plant. This may be due to the earlier stage of growth of plants used by those authors and to the latest stage of maturity of leaves used in our trial.…”

Section: Sun-dried Common Reed Leaves Composition and Experimental Feedssupporting

confidence: 62%

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Nutritive value of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of the growing rabbit

et al. 2018

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The nutritive value and potential use of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves (CRL), for growing rabbits was studied by comparing 3 diets (regression method) containing an increasing incorporation rate of CRL: 0% (control, CRL0), 15% (CRL15) and 30% (CRL30) in substitution for the control diet (356 g neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and 197 g crude protein (CP)/kg). Three groups of 37 rabbits (individually caged) were fed the 3 diets ad libitum from weaning (35 d, mean weight: 722±142 g) to 77 d of age. The faecal digestibility of the diets was measured between 42 and 46 d of age in 10 rabbits per group. CRL can be considered high-fibre roughage, as it contained 64% of NDF (38% of ADF and 10% ADL) and 10.2% of CP. The digestible energy (DE) content of CRL calculated by regression was null (–1.8±0.29 MJ/kg as fed). CP digestibility reached 29%, corresponding to a digestible crude protein concentration of 29.0±5.6 g/kg as fed basis. The fibre digestibility was reduced with CRL incorporation. Dietary incorporation of CRL impaired the rabbit growth (34.2 vs. 31.5 g/d during the period 35-77 d without CRL or with CRL (CRL15 and CRL30), respectively; P=0.002). Consequently, feed conversion was impaired with the high incorporation rate in feed (30%). Health status or main slaughter traits were not affected by CRL incorporation rate. Thus, the sun-dried common reed leaves had a poor nutritive value for growing rabbits and it can be considered a high-fibre feedstuff, interesting to supply low digested fibres (cellulose) and lignin.

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Section: Sun-dried Common Reed Leaves Composition and Experimental Feedssupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Early in the growing season, common reed is high-quality forage for cattle, horses (Majchrzak, 1992) and goats (Sun et al, 2008), but also for ostrich (Cilliers and Angel, 1999). In fact, Baran et al (2002) concluded that this feedstuff could possibly be used as a partial replacement of roughage for ruminants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritive value of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of the growing rabbit

et al. 2018

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“…, 2011), which explains the lower individual LWG of sheep at GI4, GI5 and GI6 compared with GI1, GI2 and GI3 (Table 2, Figure 4). Increases in herbage availability may increase the feed intake (Sun et al. , 2008) because unlimited herbage on offer enables sheep to graze more selectively, not only to select for more palatable species but also to preferentially select for certain plant parts, like the uppermost layer of grass leaves, which contain higher concentrations of CP and less fibre than stems (Smart et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of grazing and precipitation on herbage production, herbage nutritive value and performance of sheep in continental steppe

Schönbach

Wan

Gierus

et al. 2012

Grass and Forage Science

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The present study highlights the effects of sheep grazing and precipitation on herbage and animal performance in a grazed steppe of Inner Mongolia. Experimental data were collected during grazing periods of four consecutive years (2005–2008), and effects were analysed across a gradient of seven grazing intensities. Variation in annual precipitation, reflected by the effect of ‘year’, was the major factor affecting herbage; i.e., the production and nutritive value of herbage increased with increasing precipitation. Herbage parameters were also affected by grazing intensity, as herbage production (HP) and herbage nutritive yields decreased, while herbage nutritive values increased with increasing grazing intensity. The grazing‐induced decrease in herbage nutritive yields suggests that decreases in HP offset the positive effect of grazing on the nutritive value. Liveweight gain (LWG) was predominantly affected by grazing intensity, as LWG per sheep and per ha decreased and increased, respectively, with increasing grazing intensity. However, responses varied among years: LWG per sheep was maximized by light grazing in the drought year and by moderate grazing the wet year. Our results showed that herbage shortage at high grazing intensities reduces LWG per sheep and thus diminishes responses in LWG per ha. Nevertheless, the highest grazing intensity provides highest animal production per ha in the short term; however, this is not sustainable in the mid‐ and long term because decreasing HP induces degradation processes. Based on our results, a reduction in grazing intensity that still provides 78% of the maximum LWG per ha meets the requirements of a sustainable grazing management.

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“…Concentrations of n-alkanes in herbages and feces were analyzed in duplicate by direct saponification as described by Sun et al (2008).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Variations in Voluntary Intake and Apparent Digestibility of Forages in Goats Grazing on Introduced Leymus chinensis Pasture

Sun

Wang

Zhong

et al. 2014

Asian Australas. J. Anim. Sci

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The nutrient composition of pasture, voluntary intake and digestibility of diet ingested by goats grazing on an introduced Leymus chinensis pasture were measured across spring (May), summer (July), autumn (October) and winter (March). In each season, 12 Inner Mongolian Cashmere goats (6 wethers and 6 does with an average live weight of 22.2±1.3 kg and 19.5±0.8 kg, respectively) were used to graze on a 2 hectares size paddock. Diet selection was observed and the plant parts selected by grazing goats and whole plant L. chinensis were sampled simultaneously. The alkane pair C32:C33 and C36 were used to estimate intake and digestibility, respectively. The results showed that the plant parts selected by goats had higher crude protein (CP) and lower acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) than the whole plant, especially in the autumn and winter. The voluntary intake of dry matter (DM), CP, ADF, NDF, and metabolizable energy (ME) by goats was highest in summer (p<0.05). The goats ingested more CP, ME, and less ADF in spring than in autumn (p<0.05). The intakes of DM, CP, and ME were lowest in winter (p<0.05). There were significant differences in nutrient intake between wethers and does in each season, except for the ADF and ME intake per metabolic weight (LW0.75). The nutrient digestibilities were higher in spring and summer, and decreased significantly during the autumn and winter (p<0.05). Goats, especially wethers, had a relative constant NDF digestibility across seasons, however, the apparent digestibility of CP in both wethers and does, decreased to negative values in winter. The grazing goats experienced relatively sufficient nutrients supply in spring and summer, and a severe deficiency of CP and ME in winter.

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Diet composition, herbage intake and digestibility in Inner Mongolian Cashmere goats grazing on native Leymus chinensis plant communities

Cited by 19 publications

References 30 publications

Nutritive value of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of the growing rabbit

Nutritive value of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of the growing rabbit

Effects of grazing and precipitation on herbage production, herbage nutritive value and performance of sheep in continental steppe

Seasonal Variations in Voluntary Intake and Apparent Digestibility of Forages in Goats Grazing on Introduced <i>Leymus chinensis</i> Pasture

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Diet composition, herbage intake and digestibility in Inner Mongolian Cashmere goats grazing on native Leymus chinensis plant communities

Cited by 19 publications

References 30 publications

Nutritive value of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of the growing rabbit

Nutritive value of sun-dried common reed (Phragmites australis) leaves and its effect on performance and carcass characteristics of the growing rabbit

Effects of grazing and precipitation on herbage production, herbage nutritive value and performance of sheep in continental steppe

Seasonal Variations in Voluntary Intake and Apparent Digestibility of Forages in Goats Grazing on Introduced &lt;i&gt;Leymus chinensis&lt;/i&gt; Pasture

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Seasonal Variations in Voluntary Intake and Apparent Digestibility of Forages in Goats Grazing on Introduced <i>Leymus chinensis</i> Pasture