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Evaluation of Chamise (Adenostoma fasiculatum) and Interior Live Oak (Quercus wislizenii) as Feed for Sheep¹

University of California, Davis 95616

Abstract

Measurements were taken of feed intake, composition, and digestibility of the diet of sheep grazing areas of chamise, live oak, unimproved grassland and improved (clover) grassland.

Collection of diet samples by esophageal fistula showed that brush was only eaten in significant amounts when all alternative herbaceous material was removed. Crude protein content of the diet on the brush area (7 to 9%) was similar to that on the unimproved grassland (8 to 10%) but much less than on the improved grassland containing clover (15%). In summer when brush became a major constituent of the diet, the sheep on grasslands ate a diet higher in in vitro digestibility (65% compared with 45%) and had higher food intakes (980 to 1030 g digestible organic matter/day compared with 240 to 270 g/day) than the sheep on the brush areas. The brush species appear to be of limited feed value for sheep.

¹ A research contribution to Regional Research Project W-94 (Range Livestock Nutrition) and work partially supported by Dry-Lands Research Institute, University of California, Riverside.

² Dry-Lands Institute Research Fellow. Present address: CSIRO, Riverina Laboratory, Deniliquin, N.S.W. 2710, Australia.