Effects of concentrate starch level and free-choice provision of straw on performance, feeding behaviour and feed sorting of fattening lambs

The importance of forage in small ruminants’ behaviour is well known, but very few experimental studies have investigated the feeding behaviour of lambs offered ad libitum and as a free choice provision of concentrate and wheat straw. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of concen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied animal behaviour science 2022-11, Vol.256, p.105773, Article 105773
Main Authors: Monjezi, Yaser, Sari, Mohsen, Chaji, Morteza, Ferret, Alfred
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Fattening lambs
Feeding behaviour
Physically effective NDF
Sorting
Standing time
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Summary:The importance of forage in small ruminants’ behaviour is well known, but very few experimental studies have investigated the feeding behaviour of lambs offered ad libitum and as a free choice provision of concentrate and wheat straw. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of concentrate starch level on growth performance and behaviour, preference toward straw and rumen fermentation in lambs offered ad libitum forage and concentrate. Twenty-four Iranian Arabic male lambs (mean ± standard deviation; 18.8 ± 2 kg of BW) were used in a completely randomized design with 3 treatments (8 lambs per treatment) for a period of 84 days. Experimental treatments were included 3 levels of starch (27.1%, 35.4% and 43.6% of dietary dry matter (DM)) and wheat straw was offered as a free-choice provision. Total DMI was not different among treatments; however, intakes of straw (P 
ISSN:0168-1591
1872-9045
DOI:10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105773