How does sward height and quality affect the choice of feeding sites and intake in horses ?

摘要：

Grass represents a large part of the diet of horses, which has important consequences for their nutritional management.However, little is known of the factors affecting horse daily intake and patch selection at pasture, including the effect of basic vegetation characteristics such as sward height and quality.As plants grow and mature, their fibre content increases involving a decline in quality.Optimal foraging models predict that herbivores should trade‐off between sward accessibility, which determines intake rate, and sward quality, which determines diet digestibility and crude protein content ( Fryxell,1991).In 2006, we quantified the choice of feeding sites and intake levels when sward height varied, while keeping a constant high quality.In 2007, we tested whether these choices and intake levels differed when height and quality varied simultaneously.Our hypothesis is that horses will express a preference for feeding sites allowing the higher nutrient intake rate.

关键词： horses pastures intake feeding choices sward characteristics

作者: N.Edouard G.Fleurance P.Duncan B.Dumont R.Baumont

作者单位: INRA,UR1213 Unité de Recherches sur les Herbivores,63122 St-Genès-Champ anelle,France;CEBC-CNRS UPR1 Les Haras Nationaux,Direction des connaissances,19230 A rnac-Pomp adour,France;INRA,UR1213 Unité de CEBC-CNRS UPR1934,79360 Beauvoir-sur-Niort,France NRA,UR1213 Unité de Recherches sur les Herbivores,63122 St-Genès-Champ anelle,France

会议类型: 国际会议

会议名称: 2008世界草地与草原大会

会议地点: 呼和浩特

会议语种:英文

在线出版日期: 2008-06-29（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）