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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2010
The possibility of using dietary variety to enhance food intake of ruminants was investigated with 36 Hereford steers. For 21 days, 18 animals were given a monotonous diet of either hay or silage, while 18 others were given a varied diet of hay and silage offered in succession, at either 12- or 24-h intervals. Dietary variety did not affect total food intake (P > 0·05). However, when offered both foods at the end of the trial, animals which had been restricted to hay showed a proportional increase of 0·15 in their acceptance of silage (P < 0·05), whereas animals restricted to silage showed an increase of 0·49 in their acceptance of hay (P < 0·05)