Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T15:53:16.977Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Physical structure of white clover, rape, spurrey and perennial ryegrass in relation to rate of intake by sheep, chewing activity and particle breakdown

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

E. J. Mtengeti ,
D. Wilman  and
G. Moseley
E. J. Mtengeti
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD, UK
D. Wilman
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DD, UK
G. Moseley
Affiliation:
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3EB, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Four plant species were compared in each of three harvest periods (in August/September) in 1991 and 1992 at Aberystwyth: white clover (Trifolium repens L.), rape (Brassica napus L.), spurrey (Spergula arvensis L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Plant physical structure was considered in relation to rate of intake by sheep, chewing activity and the effectiveness of chewing in breaking the diet into particles.

White clover had a much lower proportion of cell wall than perennial ryegrass, but the rate of intake and the number of chews per min were similar for the two species. White clover petioles broke down into long, thin particles, similar in size and shape to those derived from perennial ryegrass leaf sheaths; many of the clover petioles were not split longitudinally by chewing, in contrast to the ryegrass sheaths. A white clover leaflet was typically broken into about 20 blocky particles, whereas a petiole of similar weight was broken into only about three particles. Veins were close together in ryegrass leaf sheaths and blades, particularly the latter; approximately one in seven strips of weaker tissue between veins was ruptured by chewing leaf sheaths and one in 16 in the case of leaf blades, in each case resulting in particles of c. 2 mm width. Rape had a low proportion of cell wall and a low proportion of vascular tissue in its leaf blades, petioles and stems. Rape leaf blades were eaten quickly, but the stems were eaten slowly. The length and width of particles derived from rape leaf blades were very similar to those of particles derived from white clover leaflets. Spurrey had a high proportion of cell wall and was low in in vitro digestibility, but the rates of intake and chewing were high and relatively few chews were required per g of dry matter ingested. The vascular bundles in the spurrey stems were only half the thickness of the bundles in white clover petioles; pieces of spurrey stem were typically broken at about two places along their length and were not split during eating.

The study illustrates the wide variation in plant anatomy among species which can be available to herbivores and some effects of the abundance, thickness and orientation of vascular bundles on rate of intake, chewing activity and the size and shape of particles produced by chewing.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 125 , Issue 1 , August 1995 , pp. 43 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armstrong, R. H., Beattie, M. M. & Robertson, E. (1993). Intake and digestibility of components of forage rape (Brassica napus) by sheep. Grass and Forage Science 48, 410–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balch, C. C. & Campling, R. C. (1962). Regulation of voluntary food intake in ruminants. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews 32, 669–686.Google ScholarPubMed
Derrick, R. W., Moseley, G. & Wilman, D. (1993). Intake, by sheep, and digestibility of chickweed, dandelion, dock, ribwort and spurrey, compared with perennial ryegrass. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 120, 51–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemp, C. D. (1960). Methods of estimating the leaf area of grasses from linear measurements. Annals of Botany New Series 24, 491–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenney, P. A. & Black, J. L. (1984). Factors affecting diet selection by sheep. I. Potential intake rate and acceptability of feed. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 35, 551–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLeod, M. N. & Smith, B. R. (1989). Eating and ruminating behaviour in cattle given forages differing in fibre content. Animal Production 48, 503–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moseley, G. (1982). The role of physical breakdown in controlling the nutritive quality of forages. In Report for 1981, Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth, pp. 167–182. Aberystwyth: Welsh Plant Breeding Station.Google Scholar
Moseley, G. & Antuna Manendez, A. (1989). Factors affecting the eating rate of forage feeds. In Proceedings of the XVIth International Grassland Congress, Nice, France, 1989, Vol. II, pp. 789–790. Association Française pour la Production Fourragère.Google Scholar
Poppi, D. P., Hendricksen, R. E. & Minson, D. J. (1985). The relative resistance to escape of leaf and stem particles from the rumen of cattle and sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 105, 9–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudeforth, C. C. (1970). Soils of North Cardiganshire. Harpenden: Soil Survey of England and Wales.Google Scholar
Thomson, D. J. (1984). The nutritive value of white clover. In Forage Legumes (Ed. Thomson, D. J.), pp. 78–92. Occasional Symposium No. 16, British Grassland Society. Hurley: British Grassland Society.Google Scholar
Tilley, J. M. A. & Terry, R. A. (1963). A two-stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18, 104–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulyatt, M. J., Dellow, D. W., John, A., Reid, C. S. W. & Waghorn, G. C. (1986). Contribution of chewing during eating and rumination to the clearance of digesta from the ruminoreticulum. In Control of Digestion and Metabolism in Ruminants (Eds Milligan, L. P., Grovum, W. L. & Dobson, A.), pp. 498–515. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. & Wine, R. H. (1967). Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. IV. Determination of plant cell-wall constituents. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 50, 50–55.Google Scholar
Wilman, D. & Asiedu, F. H. K. (1983). Growth, nutritive value and selection by sheep of sainfoin, red clover, lucerne and hybrid ryegrass. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 100, 115–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilman, D. & Riley, J. A. (1993). Potential nutritive value of a wide range of grassland species. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 120, 43–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J. R. (1985). An interdisciplinary approach for increasing yield and improving quality of forages. In Proceedings of the XVth International Grassland Congress, Kyoto, Japan, 1985, pp. 49–55. The Science Council of Japan; The Japanese Society of Grassland Science.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. R. (1993). Organization of forage plant tissues. In Forage Cell Wall Structure and Digestibility (Eds Jung, H. G., Buxton, D. R., Hatfield, R. D. & Ralph, J.), pp. 1–32. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America.Google Scholar