Effect of complete feed blocks or grazing and supplementation of lambs on performance, nutrient utilisation, rumen fermentation and rumen microbial enzymes

Abstract

A study to compare two feeding systems, stall feeding (SF) and grazing plus supplementation (GR) was carried out, based on intake, performance and rumen fermentation characteristics of lambs. While SF animals received ad libitum complete feed blocks (CFB), GR animals were allowed grazing for 8 h on a pasture and supplemented with concentrate mixture at 250 g per head per day. Intake in grazing animals was determined using chromium III oxide as internal marker. Intake of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and organic matter (OM) were higher ( P , 0.01) in SF than in GR animals. Similarly, digestibility of OM, CP and energy were higher ( P , 0.01) in SF animals. Average daily gain in SF animals (101 g) was significantly ( P , 0.01) higher than in GR animals (78 g) but total wool yield was similar for the two groups (856 g, SF; 782 g, GR). The pH of the rumen content, concentration of total volatile fatty acids and total activities of carboxymethyl cellulase, xylanase and esterase in the rumen liquor were similar. The concentrations (mg/dl) of total nitrogen (125, SF; 63, GR) and NH 3 -nitrogen (42, SF; 31, GR) were higher in SF animals than that of GR animals. A significantly higher activity ( P , 0.05) of microcrystalline cellulase (24.5 v. 7.7 units) and lower activity ( P , 0.05) of protease (309 v. 525 units), was observed in the rumen of SF animals than in GR animals. SF animals could therefore harness more energy through degradation of plant cell walls thus reducing breakdown of plant proteins as gluconeogenic source. The SF system of feeding where CFB was offered to sheep appeared superior to GR in terms of intake, nutrient utilisation and animal performance. Therefore the SF feeding system where CFB are offered to animals can be advocated as an alternative to grazing and supplementation feeding strategy for sheep production, especially where the pastures are highly eroded and need resting for regeneration or curing. The CFB feeding can also be adopted under adverse conditions like drought and famine, a common phenomenon in arid and semiarid conditions.

Prospects of complete feed system in ruminant feeding: A review

“…Furthermore, it has been reported that supplementation of the complete feed in block form during feed scarcity in semi-arid region helped grazing ewes to maintain their body weight (BW) compared to unsupplemented ewes [38]. Feeding complete feeds appear superior to grazing plus supplementation in terms of dry matter (DM)/nutrient intakes and animal performance, thus can be recommended as an alternative to such feeding strategy for sheep production, especially where the pastures are highly eroded and need resting for regeneration or curing [37,39]. …”

Rumen prokaryotic communities of ruminants under different feeding paradigms on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…Although some studies have described the rumen microbial ecosystem under grazing and feeding regimes in cattle [24], sheep [61], cows [4,16] and yak [17] by Sanger sequencing and qPCR methods, HTS technology has not yet been used to provide comparisons concerning microbial community compositions and diversity in yaks and Tibetan sheep under different feeding paradigms. Therefore, this study investigated the 16S rRNA gene in the rumen prokaryotic communities of these two ruminants using the high-throughput sequencing technique under conditions of natural grazing and barn feeding.…”

Comparison of intake and digestibility of fresh Digitaria decumbens grass fed to sheep, indoors or at pasture, at two different stages of regrowth

“…Fanchone@antilles.inra.fr In the same way, in direct comparisons between animals fed indoors and animals fed at pasture, the animals fed indoors often received a high proportion of supplements, whereas animals at pasture did not (Keane and Allen, 1998;Zervas et al, 1999;Moniruzzaman et al, 2002;Raghuvansi et al, 2007). In addition, the forage on offer was not the same indoors and at pasture.…”