ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2015, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (11): 1994-2001.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2015.11.011

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Response of Ingestive Behaviour of Sheep to Restricted Time at Pasture and Indoor Feeding

ZHANG Xiao-qing1，2，ZHANG Ying-jun2   

  1. （1.Grassland Research Institute，Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences，Hohhot 010010，China；2.College of Animal Science and Technology，China Agricultural University，Beijing 100193，China）
  • Received:2014-12-19 Online:2015-11-23 Published:2015-11-23

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Abstract:

This study was conducted to investigate the response of ingestive behaviour of sheep to the restriction of time at pasture combined with indoor feeding.Thirty castrated male Ujumuqin lambs were randomly assigned to 5 equal groups：（i） no grazing（0H；control），（ii） 2 h grazing（2H），（iii） 4 h grazing（4H），（iv） 8 h grazing（8H），and（v） 12 h grazing（12H）.Behavioural activities of two lambs from each treatment were monitored daily by 2 observers during the first 10 days of July，August and September（investigating periods），respectively.Observations of each group were conducted for a 2 d period and daily observation time was 15 h from 06：00 to 21：00 throughout the whole investigating period.The results showed as follow：（1） Restrictions at pasture significantly affected animal behavioural pattern.With the time at grazing reduction，the proportion time spent grazing increased（P<0.001），while the time spent resting and walking，and walking distance decreased significantly（P<0.001）.2H and 4H treatments had no time to rest during grazing.（2） Chewing rate was significantly affected by treatments（P=0.003）.0H treatment present the lowest chewing rate and 4H，8H and 12H treatments present the highest，however，lambs in the 2H treatment had a lower chewing rate than the 4H，8H and 12H treatments.Biting rate tended to be affected by treatment（P=0.067），and lambs allocated to the 2H and 4H treatments had higher biting rates（+3.6 and +1.8 bites•min-1） compared to the 12H treatment（51 bites•min-1）.（3） Behavioural activities were significantly affected by the season.The time spent on grazing in July was more than（P<0.001） that in August and September.A significant（P<0.001） reduction in walking distance was observed in 8H and 12H treatments from July to September，but no difference was found between 2H and 4H treatments.Lambs decreased（P<0.001） their biting rates and increased（P<0.001） their chewing rates as the season progressed.Animals restricted access of 4 h per day at pasture has the strong ability to adapt their behavioural activity through increasing the proportion of grazing time，decreasing the proportion of resting time，and accelerating the chewing rate to improve grazing efficiency in compensation for the reduced access time to pasture.

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