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Trade-offs between sward nitrogen intake and faecal avoidance in sheep foraging decisions: the effect of parasitic status and level of feeding motivation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

M.R. Hutchings
Affiliation:
Animal Biology Division, SAC, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
I. Kyriazakis
Affiliation:
Animal Biology Division, SAC, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
D.H. Anderson
Affiliation:
Animal Biology Division, SAC, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
I.J. Gordon
Affiliation:
Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler; Aberdeen AB15 8QH
F. Jackson
Affiliation:
Moredun Research Institute, Pentland Science Park, Penicuik, EH26 0PZ
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Extract

The deposition of dung on pasture may create a trade-off between the benefit of increased nutrient intake due to the leaching of nutrients and the risk of parasitism due to migration of helminth parasite larvae (Sykes, 1987), from the faeces to the sward. Physiological state can affect herbivore foraging decisions in relation to this trade-off. Our objectives were to determine whether such a trade-off exists in a grazing situation for sheep and whether level of feeding motivation and parasitic status affect the grazing behaviour of sheep faced with this trade-off.

Texel x Greyface lambs were presented pairs of swards (36 x 21cm) which varied in nitrogen content (high=N+; low=N-) and level of contamination with faeces from sheep infected with Ostertagia circumcincta (Ost.) (20g faeces per sward=F+; no faeces=F-) and allowed to graze for short periods (60 bites or ten minutes). We defined ‘taking the trade-off’ as taking more bites from an N+F+ sward compared to an N-F- sward, when presented together as a choice.

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Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

Sykes, A.R. (1987). Endoparasites and herbivore nutrition. In Nutrition of herbivores. (Eds Hacker, J.B. & Ternouth, J.H.), pp 211232. Academic Press Australia, Harickvale.Google Scholar