• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Journal Articles
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Journal Articles
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    A comparative study of herbage intake, ingestive behaviour and diet selection, and effects of condensed tannins upon body and wool growth in lambs grazing Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) dominant swards

    Icon
    View/Open Full Text
    Montossi2001.pdf (400.3Kb)
    Abstract
    An experiment was carried out from August to early November 1994 to examine differences in diet selection, herbage intake, grazing behaviour and animal performance between weaned lambs rotationally grazing swards of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum)/white clover (Trifolium repens) and Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus)/T. repens with or without Lotus corniculatus. There were four replicate groups of six lambs per treatment. The effects of condensed tannins (CT) on lamb production were assessed by twice-daily oral administration of 10g polyethylene glycol (PEG; molecular weight 4000) to half the lambs on each sward. The Lotus content of all swards was very low, and results are presented here for main sward comparisons meaned over lotus treatments. Overall mean estimates of pre-grazing herbage mass and sward surface height for the annual ryegrass and Yorkshire fog swards respectively, were 5820 v. 4360 +/- 190 kg DM/ha (P < 0.001) and 29 v. 21 +/- 0.6 cm (P < 0.001). The coefficient of organic matter digestibility (OMD) of the diet selected and herbage intake were higher on Yorkshire fog than on annual ryegrass (0.78 v. 0.74 +/- 0.080 g/kg; P < 0 05, and 1070 v. 860 +/- 57 g OM per lamb per day, P < 0 05 respectively), reflecting the higher content in the diet of grass green leaf (980 v. 930 g/kg +/- 14 g/kg, Pt 0 05) and the lower content of dead material (80 v. 110 +/- 15 g/kg, P < 0.08). Lambs grazing on Yorkshire fog swards had higher clean wool growth rate (1470 v. 1280 +/- 30 mg/cm per day, P < 0.01) and greater fibre diameter (31 v. 29 +/- 0.2 mu, P < 0.001), greater liveweight gain (152 v. 108 +/- 5.5 g/day, P < 0.001), final weight (42 v. 38 +/- 0.5 kg, P < 0.001), carcass weight gain (89 v. 69 +/- 2.5 g/day, P < 0.001), carcass weight (19 v. 17 +/- 0.3 kg, P < 0.001) and soft tissue thickness (GR value 11 v. 8 +/- 0.5 mm, P < 0.01), and lower faecal egg counts (FEC; square root transferred values 9.2 v. 11.0 +/- 0.4 eggs/g fresh faeces, P < 0.01) than lambs grazing annual ryegrass swards. Similar dietary concentrations of condensed tannins (CT) between Yorkshire fog and annual ryegrass swards (4.2 v. 3.7 DM +/- 0.2 g/kg, P < 0.08) increased clean wool growth (1440 v. 1310 +/- 32 mg/cm(2) per day, P < 0 05), fibre diameter (30.7 v. 29.5 +/- 0.21 <mu>, P < 0.01) and liveweight gain (141 v. 120 +/- 4.3 g per lamb per day, P < 0.01), although differences in carcass weight (17.9 v. 18.2 +/- 0.3 kg) and FEC transformed values (9.6 v. 11.0 +/- 06 eggs/g fresh faeces) were not significant. The effects of CT on animal performance were greater in Yorkshire fog swards. CT had no significant effects on diet selection, herbage intake and grazing behaviour patterns.
    Citation
    Montossi, F.; Hodgson, J.; Morris, S. T.; Risso, D. F.; Gordon, I. L. (2001). A comparative study of herbage intake, ingestive behaviour and diet selection, and effects of condensed tannins upon body and wool growth in lambs grazing Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) dominant swards. Journal of Agricultural Science. Vol. 136, pp. 241-251.
    Date
    2001
    Author
    Montossi, F.
    Hodgson, John
    Morris, Stuart T.
    Risso, D. F.
    Gordon, Ian L.
    Publisher
    Cambridge
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10179/9675
    Collections
    • Journal Articles
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1
     

     

    Tweets by @Massey_Research
    Information PagesContent PolicyDepositing content to MROCopyright and Access InformationDeposit LicenseDeposit License SummaryTheses FAQFile FormatsDoctoral Thesis Deposit

    Browse

    All of MROCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Copyright © Massey University
    | Contact Us | Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1-beta1