Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T10:07:28.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relative growth of incisor arcade breadth and eating rate in cattle and sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

C. S. Taylor ,
J. I. Murray  and
A. W. Illius
C. S. Taylor
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Edinburgh Research Station, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
J. I. Murray
Affiliation:
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Edinburgh Research Station, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
A. W. Illius
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
Get access

Abstract

Maximum eating rate, rmax in kj metabolizable energy per min, at a given body weight W kg, can be predicted in normally growing cattle when adult body weight, A kg, is known, by the formula of Taylor and Murray (1987) as rmax = 31μ0·86 A0·73 where u = W/A is degree of maturity in body weight. When the pattern of normal growth is disturbed by fluctuating levels of food intake, a better prediction can be obtained in terms of incisor arcade breadth. This paper gives the allometric relationship between degree of maturity in body weight, u, and degree of maturity in incisor arcade breadth uD, fo r both cattle and sheep, as uD = u0·29.

Combining this allometric relationship with that of Illius and Gordon (1987) gives the following formula for incisor arcade breadth, Du(mm), in the rth species at age, t, in relation to degree of maturity in body weight, uit, and adult body weight, Aikg): Dit = 7·8 uit0·29Ai0·36. Substituting uD and adult arcade breadth, Dadult, for u and A in the formula of Taylor and Murray (1987) gives the following more robust formula for predicting maximum eating rate, namely, rmax = 0·53 u3DD2adut.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , December 1987 , pp. 453 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Clutton-Brock, T. H. and Harvey, P. H. 1983. The functional significance of body size among mammals. In Mammalian Behaviour and Ecology (ed. Eisenberg, J. F.), pp. 632–663. Smithsonian, Washington.Google Scholar
Illius, A. W. and Gordon, I. J. 1987. The allometry of food intake in grazing ruminants. Journal of Animal Ecology 56: 989–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, I. J. 1986. The feeding strategies of ungulates on a Scottish moorland. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kidwell, J. F., Gregory, P. W. and Guilbert, H. R. 1952. A genetic investigation of allometric growth in Hereford cattle. Genetics, USA 37: 158–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, W. S. 1975. The growth of Ayrshire cattle: an analysis of linear body measurements. Animal Production 21: 217–226.Google Scholar
Suzuki, S., Fujita, H. and Shinde, Y. 1969. Change in the rate of eating during a meal and the effect of the interval between meals on the rate at which cows eat roughage. Animal Production 11: 29–41.Google Scholar
Taylor, St C. S. and Murray, J. I. 1987. Voluntary food intake of cattle differing in breed size in a time-controlled feeding system. Animal Production 45: 433–452.Google Scholar