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Influences of grassland degradation on forage availability by sheep in the Inner Mongolian steppes of China
Author(s) -
WANG Chengjie,
WANG Shiping,
ZHOU He,
Li Zhiqiang,
HAN Guodong
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2011.00878.x
Subject(s) - grassland , forage , grassland degradation , grazing , rumen , nutrient , steppe , agronomy , neutral detergent fiber , zoology , environmental science , biology , chemistry , ecology , food science , fermentation
In China and throughout the world, evaluation of the nutrient values of forages has always lagged behind research regarding the nutrient requirements of animals. In this study, the effective degradability and availability of forages were evaluated on undegraded and degraded grassland using a technique where nylon bags were incubated in sheep rumen. We found that the concentrations of organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), non‐fiber carbohydrates (NFC) and carbohydrates (CHO) of forage were higher ( P < 0.05) and the crude protein (CP) concentration was lower ( P < 0.05) in the degraded grassland than in the undegraded grassland. The effective degradability (ED) of NFC (ED NFC ) was higher ( P < 0.05) and ED CHO and ED NDF were lower in the undegraded grassland than in the degraded grassland. The ED OM and ED CP were not affected by the type of grassland, which may explain why ED is an inadequate parameter for the evaluation of forage availability. According to an analysis of the ratio of effectively degraded N to OM and NFC, plants of the undegraded grassland can provide more digestive nutrients to meet the requirements of grazing animals compared to plants of the degraded grassland. Results suggested that it is inadequate to consider only chemical composition and effective degradability when evaluating forage availability with grassland degradation. The ratio of effectively degraded N to OM and NFC was an appropriate indicator.