Ingestive Behavior of Young Lambs on Contrasting Tropical Grass Sward Heights
| Autor: | Elisa Cristina Modesto, Juan J. Villalba, Cesar Henrique Espirito Candal Poli, Joseane Anjos da Silva, Lívia Raymundo Irigoyen, Jalise Fabíola Tontini |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
040301 veterinary sciences
Randomized block design Body weight Pasture 0403 veterinary science 03 medical and health sciences Animal science Ruminant Grazing decision tree Capim Aruana Ruminating 030304 developmental biology Original Research 0303 health sciences geography grazing time geography.geographical_feature_category lcsh:Veterinary medicine General Veterinary biology 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences biting rate biology.organism_classification Biting lcsh:SF600-1100 Veterinary Science Panicum height |
| Zdroj: | Frontiers in Veterinary Science Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Vol 7 (2020) |
| ISSN: | 2297-1769 |
| Popis: | The efficiency of grazing ruminant production systems is directly associated to the animals' ingestive behavior, and to structural characteristics of the pastures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ingestive behavior of young lambs grazing three different heights of Capim Aruana (Panicum maximum). The experiment was carried out in two consecutive years, in which 30 tester lambs (4–5 months old) were equally divided into three paddocks (treatments) corresponding to different average sward heights of Aruana grass: (1) Tall-75 cm; (2) Medium-50 cm; and (3) Short-25 cm in a randomized block design. Ingestive behavior assessments were carried out every 28 days through 10-min observations of the main activities of the animals (grazing, ruminating, idling) and biting rate, from sunrise to sunset. In addition, the productive and qualitative characteristics of the pastures were assessed. Despite differences in pasture structure, grazing time (GT) and idling time were similar among treatments (P = 0.4266 and P = 0.2939, respectively). The shortest ruminating time (RT, P = 0.0181) was recorded in the treatment of lowest sward height. Lambs grazing on this treatment also showed 23% more bites per minute (P= < 0.0001) than animals in the Tall and Medium treatments. A Decision Tree analysis was performed for GT, identifying in a hierarchical order that the initial weight of the animals and sward height explained 62% (R2 = 0.621) of the variation, representing the variables with the greatest influence on GT. Initial body weight explained 48% of the model. Thus, our research shows that the different sward heights of Capim Aruana mainly alter the lamb's RT and biting rate, and that the animals' initial body weight is a key factor influencing GT, given that this variable makes lambs more susceptible to changes in sward height. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|