Dietary preference of European wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) grazing grass and legume at two contrasting plant heights: A pilot study

• Published in: Livestock science 2017-06, Vol.200, p.64-70
• Main Authors: Rivero, M. Jordana, Gallardo, María A., Marnet, Pierre-Guy, Velásquez, Alejandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural sciences; Animal biology; Free-range pig; Life Sciences; Mini sward technique; Outdoor reared pigs; Selective grazing
• ISSN: 1871-1413; 1878-0490
• DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2017.04.005

There were two objectives: checking a methodology to test diet preferences in a natural environment and secondly to assess diet preferences of European wild boar in terms of species and plant characteristics when offered in a situation with minimal physical constraints. Five hundred pots (100mm upper diameter, 450 cc volume) were completely filled with soil. Half of the pots were sown with red clover (Trifolium pretense) and half with hybrid ryegrass (Lolium hybridum Hausskn). All pots were irrigated, periodically cut, and maintained outdoors. Then 220 leaves of ryegrass, 201 leaflets of clover and 188 petioles of clover were used to establish a relationship between plant structure dimensions and their dry matter mass. The preference study was conducted in a fenced area (18m length and 11,1m width) with a pasture cut to a height of 3cm (lowest height possible to cover the soil). Four transects were marked separated 2m from each other, and 16 holes within each transect were made 1m apart, in which the pots were buried and anchored. Treatments consisted of the factorial combination of two plant species (red clover and hybrid ryegrass) and two plant heights (12 and 18cm, tall and short, respectively), randomized within each transect (block). During three days, four nose-ringed wild boars grazed the experimental area for one hour and the treatments which they were grazing were recorded every two minutes. Plants structures were measured pre-and post-grazing from marked plants (green thread tied at the base) in each pot to detect consumption and to estimate the amount consumed. Strong correlations were found between plant structures and their dry mass (R2 between 0,83 and 0,89). The methodology was able to show that more dry matter was apparently consumed from clover than ryegrass (P