Chewing patterns and digestion in sheep submitted to feed restriction

Summary Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the relationship among the level of feed intake, chewing pattern, and diet digestibility in sheep fed a moderate‐concentrate diet. The first experiment was conducted using six male lambs at a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design to evaluate diet digestibility and microbial N synthesis according to the level of intake: ad libitum , or restricted to either 70 or 55% of the ad libitum intake. In the second experiment, fifteen male lambs were housed in individual stalls, in a completely randomized design, and fed one of the three levels of dry matter intake (DMI). Chewing patterns were then evaluated for 24 h using a regular 5‐min interval observation technique, two times during the experimental period. Decreasing level of feed intake resulted in increased apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, and neutral detergent fibre, as well as of the true digestibility of organic matter. Total time spent eating and ruminating decreased with feed restriction. However, lambs fed at restricted levels of intake presented a higher rate of eating (g DMI/min) than those fed ad libitum , and spent more time ruminating each gram of DM (min/g DMI). In conclusion, our results suggest that a more effective chewing during rumination activity can have an important role on feed digestion in animals submitted to feed restriction.