Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T22:27:43.540Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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.
Get access

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

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

Achard, F. and Chanono, M. 1995. [Animal performance of a livestock production system in Toukounous in the Sahelian Niger.] Sécheresse 6: 215–222.Google Scholar
Arnold, G.W. 1966. The special senses in grazing animal Sights. I. and dietary habits in sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 17: 521–529.Google Scholar
Arnold, G.W. and Dudzinski, M.L. 1978. Ethology of free-ranging domestic animals. Development in Animal and Veterinary Sciences 2, Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1990. Official methods of analysis of the AOAC, volume 1, 15th edition (ed. Helrich, K.C.). Association of Official Analytical Chemists Inc., Arlington, Texas.Google Scholar
Ayantunde, A.A. 1998. Influence of grazing regimes on cattle nutrition and performance and vegetation dynamics in Sahelian rangelands. Ph.D. thesis, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen.Google Scholar
Bayer, W. 1986. Agropastoral herding practices and grazing behaviour of cattle in the subhumid zone of Nigeria. ILCA Bulletin 24: 8–13.Google Scholar
Breman, H. and De Wit, C.T. 1983. Rangeland productivity and exploitation in the Sahel. Science 221: 1341–1347.Google Scholar
Breman, H. and Ridder, N. de. 1991. [Manual on Sahelian rangelands.] Karthala/ACCT/CTA, Paris/Wageningen.Google Scholar
Coppock, D.L., Ellis, J.E. and Swift, D.M. 1987. Seasonal food habits of livestock in south Turkana, Kenya. East African Agriculture and Forestry Journal 52: 196–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppock, D.L., Ellis, J.E. and Swift, D.M. 1988. Seasonal patterns of activity, travel and water intake for livestock in south Turkana, Kenya. Journal of Arid Environments 14: 319–331.Google Scholar
Cordova, F.J., Wallace, J.D. and Pieper, R.D. 1978. Forage intake by grazing livestock: a review. Journal of Range Management 31: 430–438.Google Scholar
Dicko, M.S. and Sangaré, M. 1986. Feeding behaviour of domestic ruminants in Sahelian zone. In Rangelands: a resource under siege (ed. P. J. Joss, , Lynch, P.W. and Williams, O.B.), pp. 389–390. Australian Academy of Science, Canberra.Google Scholar
Fernández-Rivera, S., Ayantunde, A., Hiernaux, P.H. Y. and Turner, M. 1996. Nocturnal grazing effects on the nutrition of cattle. Journal of Animal Science 74: (supplement 1) 200 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Fernández-Rivera, S., Williams, T.O., Hiernaux, P. and Powell, J.M. 1995. Faecal excretion by ruminants and manure availability for crop production in semi-arid West Africa. In Livestock and sustainable nutrient cycling in mixed farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa (ed. Powell, J. M., Fernández-Rivera, S., Williams, T.O. and Renard, C.), volume II: technical papers, pp. 149–169. International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Forbes, J.M. 1995. Voluntary food intake and diet selection in farm animals. CAB International, Wallingford.Google Scholar
Ickowicz, A. 1995. [Assessing the vegetation dynamics in pastoral production systems in the Sahelian Chad.] Thése d’Université, Paris XII-Créteil.Google Scholar
Kahn, H.E. and Spedding, C.R.W. 1984. A dynamic model for the simulation of cattle herd production systems. II. An investigation of various factors influencing the voluntary intake of dry matter and the use of the models in their validation. Agricultural Systems 13: 63–82.Google Scholar
King, J.M. 1983. Livestock water needs in pastoral Africa in relation to climate and forage. ILCA report no. 7. International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Menke, K.H., Raab, L., Salewski, A., Steingass, H., Fritz, D. and Schneider, W. 1979. The estimation of the digestibility and metabolizable energy content of ruminant feeding stuffs from gas production when they are incubated with rumen liquor in vitro . Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 93: 217–222.Google Scholar
Milne, J.A. 1991. Diet selection by grazing animals. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 30: 77–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, M.J. 1987. Effects of night enclosure and extensive walking on the productivity of zebu cattle. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 109: 445–452.Google Scholar
Powell, J.M., Fernández-Rivera, S., Hiernaux, P. and Turner, M.D. 1996. Nutrient cycling in integrated rangeland/cropland systems of the Sahel. Agricultural Systems 52: 143–170.Google Scholar
Romney, D.L., Sendalo, D.S.C., Owen, E., Mtenga, L.A., Penning, P.D., Mayes, R.W. and Hendy, C.R.C. 1996. Effects of tethering management on feed intake and behaviour of Tanzanian goats. Small Ruminants Research 19: 113–120.Google Scholar
Schlecht, E. 1995. The influence of different levels of supplementation on feed intake and nutrient retention of zebu cattle in Sahelian agro-pastoral systems. Ph.D. thesis, University of Hohenheim.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1987. SAS/STAT for personal computers. SAS Institute, Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Vallentine, J.F. 1990. Grazing management. Academic Press Inc., San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P.J., Robertsons, J.B. and Lewis, A.B. 1991. Methods for dietary fibre, and nonstarch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74: 3583–3597 Google Scholar
Wallace, J.D., Hyder, D.N. and Dyne, G.M.van. 1972. Salivary contamination of forage selected by oesophageally fistulated steers grazing sandhill grassland. Journal of Range Management 25: 182–187.Google Scholar
Wigg, P.M. and Owen, A.M. 1973. Studies on water consumption, night-grazing and growth of Boran and crossbreed steers at Kongwa, Tanzania. East African Agriculture and Forestry Journal 38: 361–366.Google Scholar