Pardini, Andrea

Pratesi, V.

Staglianò, N.

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress Linear Analysis Method to Calculate the Specific Forage Ingestion by Livestock Andrea Pardini University of Florence, Italy V. Pratesi University of Florence, Italy N. Staglianò University of Florence, Italy Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/3-1/38 The 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅰ 　 瞯 ]473　 瞯Grasslands/Rangelands Resources and Ecology ——— Soil‐Plant‐Animal InterrelationshipsLinear analysis method to calculate the specific forage ingestion by livestockPardini A . , Pratesi V . , Staglianò N .University o f Florence‐Piaz z ale Cascine 18‐50144 Firenze ( I ) . E‐mail : andrea .p ardini＠ uni f i .itKey words : pasture species , traceability , palatability indicesIntroduction Native pastures include normally tens of species most of which are good forages . Measurements of massive biomassgrazed are easy , whilst the calculation of specific ingestion is very difficult , nonetheless to know how much of each species isgrazed by livestock can be useful to improve calculations of pasture carrying capacity and it is useful to research on traceability ,in fact some pasture plants contain traceable components but they are not grazed and consequently the compounds are not foundin the final produce , be it meat , milk or cheese . Several methods are used ( Hodgson et al , １９８１ ) but all are not precise :observations of livestock at grazing are done at distance from plants , animals fistulas change very much the grazing behaviour oflivestock , twin sample areas and separate weighing take too long time and need many repetitions . We propose a simple methodbased on measurement of the massive biomass ingested and calculation of the percentual specific ingestion by the number ofbites along lines of botanical analysis .Materials and methods We chose ３ pastures of different complexity ( ３９ species in flat land , ６５ in mountain , ７８ in hill) . Thebiomass was measured in each pasture in sample areas of １ m２ . After ５ days grazing we identified the species that had bittenleaves within ５ cm of distance from analysis points set at distance of ２０ cm along lines of ２０ m (Daget and Poissonet , １９７１ ) .The quantity of bites received per species was pondered with the frequency of the species , this data was used to calculate thepercentage of specific ingestion , finally the specific ingestion was multiplied by the total biomass to calculate the quantity ofbiomass ingested per species . This trails considered only the １５ most frequent species (５ per pasture) . The results we got bythis method have been compared with specific indices of forage quality calculated con previous researches and known fromliterature ( Pardini et al . , ２００７) and indicative of the probable ingestion rate .　 　 　 　 Figure 1 Graz ing percentage and f orage quality indices .Results and discussion The specific ingestions calculated are very similar to the theoretical ingestion derived by palatabilityindices ( Figure . １ ) . The proposed method has distinguished species normally not much ingested like Bromus erectus ( １ ) ,Holcus lanatus (５) and Plantago lanceolata ( １１ ) because of little palatability , from those more palatable and normally moreingested like Dacty lis glomerata (３ ) , Festuca p ratensis (４) , Lolium multi f lorum (７ ) , L .perenne (８) , Medicago sativ a (９ ) ,Phleum p ratense (１０) , T ri f olium repens (１３ ) , V icia sativ a ( １４) .Conclusions There good similarity between the ingestion rates and the quality indices , consequently we consider the proposedmethod sufficiently reliable for quick analysis especially also because easy and rapid . However it should be further controlled indifferent seasons and environmental conditions , especially because the appreciation and ingestion of a species is related to therest of the botanic composition of the pasture .ReferencesDaget P . , Poissonet J . , ( １９７１) . Une méthode d摧analyse phytologique des prairies . Ann . Agr . , ２２( I) , ５‐４１ .Hodgson J . , Baker R .D . , Davies A . , Laidlaw A .S . , Leaver J .D . , ( １９８１ ) . Sward measurement handbook . Publication o fthe British G rassland Society , ２７７ .Pardini A . , Longhi F . , Mosquera Losada R . , Rigueiro A . , Cannone F . , Vannuccini F . , ２００７ . Ranger ３ .０ . CD‐rom , Ed .Europlanet , Firenze ( I) .14 12 A A 10 A A A ■ ■ ■ 8 ■ % A ■ ! ■ ■ 6 A A ■ 4 ■ ■ A A ■ ■ A 2 A ■ ■ A A 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 I A Lynear Analysis ■ Indices 

Linear Analysis Method to Calculate the Specific Forage Ingestion by Livestock

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Linear Analysis Method to Calculate the Specific Forage Ingestion by Livestock

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