Effect of frequency of meals on intake and digestion of tropical grass consumed by rams - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Asian-Australasian journal of animal sciences Année : 2009

Effect of frequency of meals on intake and digestion of tropical grass consumed by rams

Résumé

Eight Black Belly rams (45.2 kg) fitted with permanent ruminal cannulae were used in a 2x2 factorial design to determine the effects of feeding frequency and regrowth age on intake and digestion. Rams were fed with 21- or 35-day old fresh pangola grass offered ad libitum two or four times a day. Irrespective of the regrowth age, there was a tendency for intake to be positively correlated with increase in meal frequency. Differences were not significant (p>0.25). Significant effects of meal frequency were observed in NDF and ADF total tract digestibility of the 35-day grass which decreased as the number of meals increased. Meal frequency had no visible effect on feeding behaviour. Total rumen content increased when animals were fed twice a day as opposed to four times a day. Similarly, an accumulation of small and very small particles was observed in the rumen of rams fed twice a day in comparison with those fed four times a day. These results suggest that studies of digestive dynamics performed at a steady state are not representative of the rumen loading observed in farm rams which have two important peaks of meal.
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Dates et versions

hal-01173472 , version 1 (07-07-2015)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01173472 , version 1
  • PRODINRA : 27823
  • WOS : 000262387400010

Citer

Caroline Assoumaya, Daniel Sauvant, Frédéric Pommier, Maryline Boval, Valériuse Calif, et al.. Effect of frequency of meals on intake and digestion of tropical grass consumed by rams. Asian-Australasian journal of animal sciences, 2009, 22 (1), pp.72-81. ⟨hal-01173472⟩
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