HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Burritt, E. A. Articles by Provenza, F. D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Burritt, E. A. Articles by Provenza, F. D.

Food Aversion Learning: Conditioning Lambs to Avoid a Palatable shrub (Cercocarpus montanus)^1,2,

Utah State University³, Logan 84322-5230

Abstract

Dietary preferences of livestock are flexible, so manipulating diet selection of livestock may be a better alternative than vegetation manipulation to reduce livestock losses to poisonous plants. We studied the feasibility of training lambs to avoid the palatable shrub Cercocarpus montanus. Lambs naive to C. montanus were exposed to shrubs in 8-liter pots in pens for 5 d. Treatment lambs received lithium chloride (LiCl), a non-lethal gastrointestinal poison, immediately following consumption of the shrub. Control lambs received no LiCl. Treatment (averted) lambs decreased their ingestion of C. montanus over the 5-d training trial, whereas control animals increased consumption of the shrub. During subsequent pasture trials, averted and control lambs chose .2 to .4% vs 15 to 35% of their bites from C. montanus, respectively (P < .05). When averted and control lambs grazed together in a common pasture, averted lambs continued to select fewer of their bites from C. montanus than did control lambs (5% vs 19%). We conclude that aversive conditioning may be a viable method for manipulating diet selection of free-ranging livestock.

¹ Utah Agric. Exp. Sta. Tech. Paper No. 3557. Financial assistance was provided by Utah Agric. Exp. Sta. and the Cooperative States Research Service.

² We gratefully acknowledge Kathrin Olson-Rutz and Patrick Meyer for help in data collection and technical assistance, and the U.S. Sheep Exp. Sta. for material support.

³ Dept. of Range Sci.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. A. Pfister, B. L. Stegelmeier, C. D. Cheney, and D. R. Gardner Effect of previous locoweed (Astragalus and Oxytropis species) intoxication on conditioned taste aversions in horses and sheep J Anim Sci, July 1, 2007; 85(7): 1836 - 1841. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]