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Effect of timing and duration of grazing of growing cattle in the West African Sahel on diet selection, faecal output, eating time, forage intake and live-weight changes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

A.A. Ayantunde ,
S. Fernández-Rivera ,
P.H.Y. Hiernaux ,
H. van Keulen ,
H.M.J. Udo  and
M. Chanono
A.A. Ayantunde
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI/ICRISAT, BP 12404, Niamey, Niger Institute for Animal Science and Health (ID-Lelystad), Department of Animal Nutrition, PO Box 65, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands
S. Fernández-Rivera
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI/ICRISAT, BP 12404, Niamey, Niger
P.H.Y. Hiernaux
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI/ICRISAT, BP 12404, Niamey, Niger
H. van Keulen
Affiliation:
Plant Research International, PO Box 14, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
H.M.J. Udo*
Affiliation:
Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands
M. Chanono
Affiliation:
Ministére de l’Agriculture et l’Elevage, Toukounous, Niger
*
†To whom correspondence should be addressed.
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Abstract

Sixty-four Azawak male weaned calves were allotted to eight treatments (T) in two trials to study the effect of timing (day or day-and-night) and duration of grazing on diet selection, faecal output, eating time, forage intake and weight changes. Grazing time during the day was 6 h for T 1, 2 and 3; 9 h for T 4, 5 and 6; and 12 h for T 7 and 8. Night grazing time was 0 h for T 1, 4 and 7; 3 h for T 2, 5 and 8; and 6 h for T 3 and 6. The trials were conducted from July 1995 to May 1996 covering the wet (WS), early dry (EDS) and late dry (LDS) seasons. Eight oesophageally fistulated steers were used in a cross-over design to sample the diet selected by day-grazers (D1) and by day-and-night-grazers during the day (D2) and at night (N2). Forage intake was determined from individual data on faecal output from all the calves and means of in vitro organic matter digestibility of extrusa of the fistulated steers. Water intake and eating time were measured in LDS. In WS there were no differences (P > 0·05) in the quality of the diet (extrusa) selected for D1, D2 and N2. In LDS, crude protein content for D1 was lower than for D2 (73 v . 79 (s.e. 2) g/kg dry matter, P < 0·05). In all seasons, faecal output and forage intake increased with total duration of grazing. Total time spent eating increased linearly with increasing total time allowed for grazing. These results suggest that allowing additional grazing time during the night leads to increased forage intake and consequently provides an opportunity for better animal production, especially in the dry season.

Keywords

cattlefood intakefood preferencesnocturnal activitySahel
Type
Ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 2001 , pp. 117 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2001

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