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The Voluntary Forage Intake and Nutrition of Goats and Sheep in the Semi-Arid Tropics of Northeastern Brazil¹

Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409 and Utah State University, Logan 84322

Abstract

The nutritive value of diets selected by free-ranging goats and sheep, and estimates of forage intake, were obtained during the wet (January to May, 1982) and the dry season (June to December, 1981) in the Brazilian state of Ceara. Esophageally fistulated animals were used to collect dietary samples for nutritive evaluation. Organic matter intake (OMI) was estimated by total fecal collections. Goats selected diets higher in crude protein (CP) than did sheep (16.3 and 15.5%, respectively; P = .03). Contrary to current hypotheses, goats did not generally select diets of higher nutritional quality than did sheep. Sheep diets had lower (P<.05) levels of lignin and equal (P=.1) levels of cell wall fiber compared with goats' diets. No difference in in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) was found between sheep and goats (P=.1), averaging 54%. However, major differences in IVOMD occurred during the wet season, as sheep diets were 4 to 10 digestibility units higher than were goats' diets. This may have been due to problems in using the in vitro procedure for dietary samples high in browse material. The OMI averaged 2.2 and 2.1% of body weight for sheep and goats, respectively (P = .08). Lowest levels of OMI (1.2% for sheep and goats) were noted during the latter portion of the wet season when forage biomass was high but nutrient quality was declining due to maturation. Daily digestible energy (DE) intake (kcal) differed (P = .04) between sheep (1,665.5 ± 23.7) and goats (1,329.7 ± 27.5). Animal weight responses more closely paralleled energy requirements determined for animals in developing countries, rather than National Research Council (NRC) standards.

¹ Financed under USAID Grant No. AID/DSAN/ XII-G-0049 as part of the Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program in cooperation with Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria. We thank the personnel of the Centra National de Pesquisa de Gaprinos, Sobral, Ceara, for provision of physical facilities and assistance during the study. We acknowledge the assistance of Venceslau Alves Costa, Animal Husbandryman, and Elizabeth A. Burritt, Laboratory Technician.

² Dept. of Range and Wildlife Manage., Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock 79409.

³ Dept. of Range Sci., Utah State Univ., Logan 84322.