Abstract
Two experiments were made to investigate how closely cropping long grass silage could improve the voluntary consumption by sheep and heifers. Voluntary intake of silage was significantly higher by sheep (+ 13%, + 32%) and heifers (+ 10.4%) with short (1.5 − 1.2 cm) than with long silage (9.0 − 8.3 cm).
Despite the longer chewing time per gr. DM long silage during the intake activity, the particles arriving in the reticulo-rumen were too long and caused a delayed and less efficient rumination activity.
Since virtually all breakdown must be achieved by rumination, this will result in a longer reticulo-rumen retention time of the indigestible fraction of long silage which causes a lower level of voluntary intake.
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© 1979 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg
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Deswysen, A., Vanbelle, M. (1979). How Chopping Improves Grass Silage Intake by Sheep and Heifers. In: Bowman, J.C., Susmel, P. (eds) The Future of Beef Production in the European Community. Current Topics in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9329-7_50
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9329-7_50
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