Contribution of woody plants to horses’ diets in Mediterranean rangelands

Abstract

In Mediterranean countries, shrubby and woody areas provide herds with cheap fodder. However, some horse farmers are reluctant to use woody rangelands, which they associate with low-quality feed. In this article, we explore some aspects of the feeding behavior of horses on Mediterranean shrubby and woody rangelands, in order to document their pastoral interest for horses. We observed the feeding choices of young horses grazing on typical peri-Mediterranean rangelands. Observations were repeated at two sites, with four horses per site, over four days with two observers. At each site, two horses were fitted with GPS (positioning system) collars to determine their presence in different areas of the paddocks. Ingested plants were classified in a coding grid. The chemical characteristics of each feed item were estimated by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). A hierarchical classification of NIRS spectra defined four classes. Leaves, twigs, and flowers of several woody species were ingested (1‒18% of recorded bites), although herbaceous species were preferred (> 80% of bites). Horses explored the entire paddocks but grazed preferentially in open areas. The differences observed between sites suggested a strong effect of local grazing conditions. The chemical composition of feed from shrubs and trees was close to that of herbaceous forbs but quite different from that of grasses. Three out of four classes associated woody plants and forbs. These classes had interesting nutritional characteristics (protein > 12%). These results confirm the positive contribution of woody plants to horses' nutrition, in addition to the other roles of woody plants in the well-being of horses on pasture.

Recycling crop and livestock co-products on agro-pastoral farms for the agroecological transition: more than 60% potentially recoverable in western Burkina Faso

“…CCPs grazed and LCP deposits by third parties' herds on farm plots: in an open agrarian system where open grazing is practiced and where the harvested cultivated plots escape the supervision of farmers due to their distance and dispersion, it is highly challenging to estimate with a single-pass survey the CCP grazed by external herds and LCP deposits on farm plots. To do this, it would be necessary to set up weekly monitoring of the plots throughout the dry season, as proposed by Mikicic et al (2023).…”