Pre-Grazing Herbage Mass Affects Grazing Behavior, Herbage Disappearance, and the Residual Nutritive Value of a Pasture during the First Grazing Session
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Experimental Location
2.2. Treatments, Animals, and Experimental Design
2.3. Animal Handling and Grazing Management
2.4. Pasture Measurements
2.5. Animal Measurements
2.6. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
3.1. Sward Measurements and Defoliation Characteristics
3.2. Animal Performance, Body Condition Score, and Body Weight
3.3. Grazing Behavior, Bite Rate, Bite Mass, and Herbage Intake during the First GS
3.4. Herbage Disappearance Dynamics
3.5. Evolution of Nutrient Concentration of the Pasture throughout the GS and Nutrient Selection Differentials
4. Discussion
4.1. Pasture Characteristics, Forage Removal, and Animal Performance
4.2. Grazing Behavior, Herbage Intake, and Herbage Disappearance during the First Grazing Session
4.3. Nutritive Value of the Pasture during the Grazing Down Process in the First GS
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Sward Characteristics | Treatment | SEM 1 | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MHM | HHM | |||
Pre-grazing herbage mass (kg DM/ha) | 2662.86 | 3374.22 | 136.646 | 0.038 |
Post-grazing herbage mass (kg DM/ha) | 1567.18 | 1677.98 | 43.477 | 0.183 |
Pre-grazing height (cm) | 11.34 | 14.89 | 0.680 | 0.038 |
Post-grazing height (cm) | 5.86 | 6.40 | 0.217 | 0.185 |
Free leaf lamina (cm) | 17.58 | 22.79 | 0.376 | 0.002 |
Lamina width (mm) | 4.17 | 5.37 | 0.192 | 0.022 |
Tiller density (tiller/m2) | 9822.51 | 8122.09 | 347.873 | 0.041 |
Morphological composition (pre-grazing) | ||||
Ryegrass leaves (g/kg DM) | 690.32 | 451.29 | 41.842 | <0.001 |
Ryegrass pseudostem (g/kg DM) | 144.70 | 318.89 | 27.621 | <0.001 |
Dicotyledonous (g/kg DM) | 29.78 | 24.76 | 8.152 | 0.640 |
Dead material (g/kg DM) | 135.17 | 202.79 | 30.453 | 0.103 |
Morphological composition (after 240 min of grazing) | ||||
Ryegrass leaves (g/kg DM) | 434.75 | 352.43 | 62.109 | 0.351 |
Ryegrass pseudostem (g/kg DM) | 374.84 | 439.05 | 56.885 | 0.425 |
Dicotyledonous (g/kg DM) | 25.29 | 22.56 | 12.214 | 0.856 |
Dead material (g/kg DM) | 165.10 | 186.25 | 30.535 | 0.621 |
Defoliation characteristics | ||||
Defoliation depth (cm) | 5.48 | 8.48 | 0.653 | 0.053 |
Forage removed (kg DM/cow/day) | 10.18 | 12.32 | 0.440 | 0.046 |
Area allocated per cow (m2/cow/day) | 95.52 | 75.96 | 2.886 | 0.019 |
Item | Treatment | SEM 1 | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MHM | HHM | |||
Milk production (kg/cow/day) | 30.60 | 29.43 | 1.346 | 0.021 |
Milk fat concentration (g/kg) | 39.80 | 42.87 | 0.495 | <0.001 |
Milk protein concentration (g/kg) | 31.29 | 31.61 | 0.451 | 0.637 |
Milk fat production (g/cow/day) | 1222.03 | 1251.90 | 72.578 | 0.774 |
Milk protein production (g/cow/day) | 946.88 | 929.38 | 43.889 | 0.780 |
Body condition score | ||||
Initial | 2.66 | 2.64 | 0.036 | 0.689 |
Final | 2.81 | 2.85 | 0.041 | 0.482 |
Body weight (kg) | ||||
Initial | 502.45 | 508.96 | 19.849 | 0.818 |
Final | 522.38 | 518.72 | 18.796 | 0.891 |
Item | Time Interval, min | Treatment | SEM 1 | p-Value 2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MHM | HHM | ||||
Grazing time (min) | 0–60 | 59.54 | 59.54 | 0.148 | 1.000 |
60–120 | 52.34 | 51.67 | 1.139 | 0.676 | |
120–180 | 28.64 | 31.52 | 1.180 | 0.085 | |
180–240 | 21.17 | 24.26 | 1.516 | 0.153 | |
Ruminating time (min) | 0–60 | 0.03 | 0.14 | 0.073 | 0.316 |
60–120 | 2.98 | 4.75 | 0.691 | 0.071 | |
120–180 | 18.92 | 17.70 | 1.077 | 0.425 | |
180–240 | 24.01 | 21.25 | 1.279 | 0.127 | |
Idling time (min) | 0–60 | 0.15 | 0.18 | 0.128 | 0.872 |
60–120 | 3.67 | 2.59 | 0.720 | 0.291 | |
120–180 | 9.72 | 8.50 | 0.886 | 0.333 | |
180–240 | 10.30 | 8.90 | 1.030 | 0.337 | |
Bite rate (bites/min) | 0 | 67.42 | 59.77 | 1.444 | 0.001 |
60 | 65.07 | 54.12 | 1.250 | <0.001 | |
120 | 60.02 | 52.52 | 1.560 | 0.002 | |
180 | 53.87 | 47.60 | 1.563 | 0.005 | |
Bite mass (g of DM) | 0–60 | 0.9567 | 1.5138 | 0.117 | 0.001 |
60–120 | 0.2816 | 0.2898 | 0.044 | 0.889 | |
120–180 | 0.4975 | 0.3925 | 0.086 | 0.357 | |
Herbage intake (kg DM/cow) | 0–60 | 3.5767 | 4.6616 | 0.345 | 0.032 |
60–120 | 0.9975 | 0.9143 | 0.152 | 0.694 | |
120–180 | 0.7135 | 0.6092 | 0.091 | 0.420 |
Item | Treatment | SEM 1 | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MHM | HHM | |||
a 2 | 2668.3 | 3323.0 | 99.17 | <0.001 |
b 3 | 1287.0 | 1767.6 | 99.44 | 0.001 |
c 4 | 1.2565 | 1.4855 | 0.24 | 0.510 |
Herbage disappearance rate (kg DM/ha per hour) | ||||
At time 0.5 (30 min) | 630.73 | 1081.91 | 84.99 | <0.001 |
At time 1 (60 min) | 349.55 | 480.10 | 26.32 | 0.001 |
At time 2 (120 min) | 153.34 | 144.26 | 20.49 | 0.755 |
At time 3 (180 min) | 82.59 | 63.73 | 15.80 | 0.404 |
At time 4 (240 min) | 49.28 | 34.47 | 12.01 | 0.388 |
Item | Time after the Start of the GS | Treatment | SEM 1 | p-Value 2 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MHM | HHM | ||||
Crude protein (g/kg) | Pre-grazing | 151.81 | 140.81 | 6.604 | 0.360 |
60 min | 144.16 | 131.62 | 2.339 | 0.064 | |
120 min | 125.73 | 120.97 | 3.137 | 0.394 | |
180 min | 126.16 | 117.20 | 1.587 | 0.057 | |
240 min | 116.28 | 106.18 | 0.992 | 0.022 | |
Acid detergent fiber (g/kg) | Pre-grazing | 268.04 | 278.84 | 1.074 | 0.019 |
60 min | 262.72 | 271.43 | 1.123 | 0.032 | |
120 min | 278.76 | 292.39 | 2.076 | 0.043 | |
180 min | 288.36 | 297.95 | 2.260 | 0.096 | |
240 min | 295.60 | 294.36 | 2.451 | 0.777 | |
Neutral detergent fiber (g/kg) | Pre-grazing | 498.69 | 505.71 | 1.495 | 0.080 |
60 min | 465.39 | 474.30 | 3.116 | 0.183 | |
120 min | 476.60 | 491.80 | 1.575 | 0.020 | |
180 min | 490.12 | 496.02 | 5.115 | 0.501 | |
240 min | 499.03 | 498.99 | 2.797 | 0.994 | |
DOMD 3 (g/kg) | Pre-grazing | 746.78 | 736.36 | 4.228 | 0.224 |
60 min | 770.79 | 769.16 | 0.430 | 0.118 | |
120 min | 754.61 | 739.96 | 2.941 | 0.071 | |
180 min | 736.56 | 731.26 | 4.176 | 0.465 | |
240 min | 730.29 | 739.43 | 3.347 | 0.223 |
Item | Treatment | SEM 1 | p-Value | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MHM | HHM | |||
Crude protein | 1.28 | 1.23 | 0.043 | 0.399 |
Acid detergent fiber | 0.86 | 0.93 | 0.024 | 0.032 |
Neutral detergent fiber | 0.97 | 0.99 | 0.026 | 0.538 |
DOMD 2 | 1.02 | 1.00 | 0.011 | 0.084 |
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Piña, L.F.; Balocchi, O.A.; Keim, J.P.; Pulido, R.G.; Rosas, F. Pre-Grazing Herbage Mass Affects Grazing Behavior, Herbage Disappearance, and the Residual Nutritive Value of a Pasture during the First Grazing Session. Animals 2020, 10, 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020212
Piña LF, Balocchi OA, Keim JP, Pulido RG, Rosas F. Pre-Grazing Herbage Mass Affects Grazing Behavior, Herbage Disappearance, and the Residual Nutritive Value of a Pasture during the First Grazing Session. Animals. 2020; 10(2):212. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020212
Chicago/Turabian StylePiña, Luis F., Oscar A. Balocchi, Juan Pablo Keim, Rubén G. Pulido, and Felipe Rosas. 2020. "Pre-Grazing Herbage Mass Affects Grazing Behavior, Herbage Disappearance, and the Residual Nutritive Value of a Pasture during the First Grazing Session" Animals 10, no. 2: 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020212
APA StylePiña, L. F., Balocchi, O. A., Keim, J. P., Pulido, R. G., & Rosas, F. (2020). Pre-Grazing Herbage Mass Affects Grazing Behavior, Herbage Disappearance, and the Residual Nutritive Value of a Pasture during the First Grazing Session. Animals, 10(2), 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020212