{"title":"A diverse diet increases animal growth performance and carcass yield of grazing lambs","authors":"M. R. Beck, K. Garrett, C. Marshall, P. Gregorini","doi":"10.1093/tas/txae103","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n The current experiments were conducted across two lamb finishing seasons [2019 (experiment one; Exp1) and 2020 (experiment two; Exp2)]. In both experiments lambs were provided a monotonous (MON) diet [annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) during 2019 and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white-clover (Trifolium repens L.) during 2020] or a diverse (DIV) diet composed of spatially separated strips sown to chicory (Chicorium intybus L.), plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.), perennial ryegrass, lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), and dock (Rumex obtusifolius). During Exp1, the DIV lambs had a stocking rate (SR) of either 80, 95, 100, or 110 m2/lamb/week, whereas the MON lambs had a 100 m2/lamb/week SR. In Exp2, the SR aimed to allocate the MON lambs with twice the forage allowance (kg DM/lamb/d) as DIV lambs. In Exp1, all lambs provided DIV had a greater (P < 0.01) average daily gain (ADG; +130%) than MON rams, independent of the SR. Accordingly, DIV had greater (P < 0.05) hot carcass weight (HCW; +26%) and aged carcass weight (CW; +27%) compared with MON, across all SR. The 80 m2/lamb/week SR tended to have a greater (P = 0.10) dressing percentage and had similar (P = 0.29) drip loss percentage to the MON lambs, while the other DIV lamb SR all had greater (P < 0.05; +12%) dressing percentages and lower (P < 0.05) drip loss percentage than MON lambs. In Exp2, DIV lambs had greater (P < 0.01) ADG (+37% ), HCW (+15%), and dressing percentage (+6%) compared with MON lambs. This improved animal performance occurred despite being offered 57% less (P = 0.01) dry matter (DM), 56% less (P < 0.01) digestible DM, and 57% less (P = 0.02) metabolizable energy per lamb per day. Ultimately, these experiments demonstrate that providing growing lambs a functionally diverse diet improves animal growth performance and carcass weight compared with a monotonous diet of annual ryegrass or a mixed sward containing perennial ryegrass with white clover","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":"23 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":17.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txae103","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The current experiments were conducted across two lamb finishing seasons [2019 (experiment one; Exp1) and 2020 (experiment two; Exp2)]. In both experiments lambs were provided a monotonous (MON) diet [annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) during 2019 and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white-clover (Trifolium repens L.) during 2020] or a diverse (DIV) diet composed of spatially separated strips sown to chicory (Chicorium intybus L.), plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.), perennial ryegrass, lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), and dock (Rumex obtusifolius). During Exp1, the DIV lambs had a stocking rate (SR) of either 80, 95, 100, or 110 m2/lamb/week, whereas the MON lambs had a 100 m2/lamb/week SR. In Exp2, the SR aimed to allocate the MON lambs with twice the forage allowance (kg DM/lamb/d) as DIV lambs. In Exp1, all lambs provided DIV had a greater (P < 0.01) average daily gain (ADG; +130%) than MON rams, independent of the SR. Accordingly, DIV had greater (P < 0.05) hot carcass weight (HCW; +26%) and aged carcass weight (CW; +27%) compared with MON, across all SR. The 80 m2/lamb/week SR tended to have a greater (P = 0.10) dressing percentage and had similar (P = 0.29) drip loss percentage to the MON lambs, while the other DIV lamb SR all had greater (P < 0.05; +12%) dressing percentages and lower (P < 0.05) drip loss percentage than MON lambs. In Exp2, DIV lambs had greater (P < 0.01) ADG (+37% ), HCW (+15%), and dressing percentage (+6%) compared with MON lambs. This improved animal performance occurred despite being offered 57% less (P = 0.01) dry matter (DM), 56% less (P < 0.01) digestible DM, and 57% less (P = 0.02) metabolizable energy per lamb per day. Ultimately, these experiments demonstrate that providing growing lambs a functionally diverse diet improves animal growth performance and carcass weight compared with a monotonous diet of annual ryegrass or a mixed sward containing perennial ryegrass with white clover
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.