Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T12:56:55.845Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exploitation of a natural pasture by wild horses: comparison between nutritive characteristics of the land and the nutrient requirements of the herds over a 2-year period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

N. Miraglia ,
M. Costantini ,
M. Polidori ,
G. Meineri  and
P. G. Peiretti
N. Miraglia*
Affiliation:
SAVA Department, Molise University, Via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
M. Costantini
Affiliation:
SAVA Department, Molise University, Via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
M. Polidori
Affiliation:
SAVA Department, Molise University, Via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
G. Meineri
Affiliation:
DIPAEE Department, Torino University, Via L. Da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy
P. G. Peiretti
Affiliation:
ISPA, National Research Council, Via L. Da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy
*
E-mail: miraglia@unimol.it
Get access

Abstract

In the Molise region (Italy), some autochthonous populations are still bred and, between them, some wild horses named ‘Pentro horses.’ The breeding area is a natural pasture. It is 2200 ha extended including a broad plane surrounded by wooden hills. The aim of this research was to determine the nutritional characteristics of this area over a 2-year period to improve the management of the herd and to define the stocking rate in relation to the forage production in terms of production and quality. The forage samples were collected over two successive years during the grazing period (May to October) from five experimental areas and analysed for dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), neutral-detergent fibre (NDF), acid-detergent fibre (ADF), acid-detergent lignin (ADL) and gross energy (GE). Horse feed units (HFU) and horse-digestible crude protein (HDCP) were also predicted. Data were analysed with a one-way ANOVA test using month and area as factors. The DM, HFU and HDCP total production was determined to be compared with the total nutrient requirements of the herds from May to October. The results show that seasonal and yearly climatic variations significantly affect chemical composition and nutritive value of the pasture. The parameters most influenced were DM, CP, ADF and to a less extent NDF, while OM, ADL and GE show smaller differences during the observed period. The results show a low production per ha; nevertheless, because of the low stocking rate (0.3 to 0.6 head per ha), nutrient production meets the nutrient requirements of the horses regarding DM and energy. The differences among the areas have to be ascribed to the different botanical compositions and to the different draining capacity of the soil, and also in this case the greatest variations are for DM, CP and ADF.

Keywords

chemical compositionhorsesnatural pastureseasonal variations
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , March 2008 , pp. 410 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2008

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

Association of Official Analytical Chemists 2004. Official methods of analysis, vol. 2, 18th edition. AOAC, Arlington, VA, USA.Google Scholar
Brown-Blanquet, J 1932. Plant sociology. Hafner Publishing Company, New York, USA.Google Scholar
Carrère P 2007. Fonctionnement de l’écosystème prairal pâturé. Proceedings of the ‘33ème Journée de la Recherche Equine’, Paris, France, pp. 215–230.Google Scholar
Catalano AL and Miraglia N 1985. Exploitation of altitude’s low productive pastures in wet areas. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Halkidiki, Greece, p. 424.Google Scholar
Catalano, AL, Miraglia, N 1986. Utilizzazione delle risorse agro-zootecniche nell’Alto Appennino Reggiano. Agricoltura e Ricerca 57/58, 27–38.Google Scholar
Catalano, AL, Miraglia, N, Martuzzi, F, Blanco, P 1989. Utilizzazione delle risorse agro-zootecniche dell’Alto Appennino Reggiano. Rilievi agronomici e zootecnici nel secondo anno di sperimentazione. Agricoltura e Ricerca 101, 29–38.Google Scholar
Corrall, AJ, Fenlon, JS 1978. A comparative method for describing the seasonal distribution of production from grasses. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 91, 61–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cosyns, E, Degezelle, T, Demeulenaere, E, Hoffmann, M 2001. Feeding ecology of Konik horses and donkeys in Belgian coastal dunes and its implications for nature management. Belgian Journal of Zoology 131, 111–118.Google Scholar
Duncan, P 1983. Determinants of the use of habitat by horses in a Mediterranean wetland. Journal of Animal Ecology 52, 93–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, P 1992. Horses and grasses: the nutritional ecology of equids and their impact on the Camargue. Springer-Verlag, New York, USA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edouard N and Fleurance G 2007. Ingestion et choix alimentaires du cheval au pâturage. Proceedings of the ‘33ème Journée de la Recherche Equine’, Paris, France, pp. 231–243.Google Scholar
Fleurance, G, Duncan, P, Mallevaud, B 2001. Daily intake and the selection of feeding sites by horses in heterogeneous wet grasslands. Animal Research 50, 149–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleurance G, Dumont B, Faruggia A and Mesléard F 2007. Impact du pâturage équin sur la diversité biologique des prairies. Proccedings of the ‘33ème Journée de la Recherche Equine’, Paris, France, pp. 245–258.Google Scholar
Iamartino D, Fidotti M, Miraglia N and Pilla F 2004. Genetic characterisation of Pentro young horses by microsatellites markers. Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Bled, Slovenia, p. 310.Google Scholar
Lamoot, I, Vandenberghe, C, Bauwens, D, Hoffmann, M 2005. Grazing behaviour of free-ranging donkeys and Shetland ponies in different reproductive states. Journal of Ethology 23, 19–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucchese, F 1995. Elenco preliminare della flora spontanea del Molise. Annali di Botanica 53 (suppl 12), 386pp.Google Scholar
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) 1990. L’alimentation des chevaux. INRA éditions, Paris, France.Google Scholar
Martin-Rosset W and Vermorel M 2002. Evaluation and expression of energy allowances and energy value of feeds in the UFC system for the performance horse. Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Equine Nutrition, Dijon, France, pp. 25–64.Google Scholar
Martin-Rosset, W, Loiseau, P, Molénat, G 1981. Utilisation des pâturages pauvres par le cheval. Bulletin Technique d’Information (special issue Cheval) 362–363, 587–608.Google Scholar
Martin-Rosset, W, Vermorel, M, Doreau, M, Tisserand, JL, Andrieu, J 1994. The French horse feed evaluation systems and recommended allowances for energy and protein. Livestock Production Science 40, 37–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menard, C, Duncan, P, Fleurance, G, Georges, J-Y, Lila, M 2002. Comparative foraging and nutrition of horses and cattle in European wetlands. Journal of Applied Ecology 39, 120–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali (MIPAF) 2003. Disciplinare del registro anagrafico delle razze popolazioni equine riconducibili a gruppi etnici locali. Decreto MIPAF n. 24347-5.11.2003.Google Scholar
Miraglia N, Di Francia A, Polidori M, Lucchese F, Gagliardi D and Pietrolà E 1999. Preliminary study about the morphology of ‘Pentro horse’: autochtonous population of Molise region. Proceedings of the 13th ASPA. congress, Piacenza, Italy, pp. 806–808.Google Scholar
Miraglia N, Polidori M, Lucchese F and Pietrolà E 2001. Exploitation of low productive pastures in wet areas by wild horses: zootechnic and environmental factors. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Budapest, Hungary, p. 326.Google Scholar
Miraglia N, Polidori M and Salimei E 2002. Feeding strategies, feeds and management of equines in Central-Southern Italy. Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Cairo, Egypt, p. 251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miraglia N, Peiretti PG, Costantini M, Meineri G and Polidori M 2005. Chemical composition variations of a natural pasture grazed by wild horses: comparison between two following years. Proceedings of the Seventh Congress ‘New findings in Equine Practices’, Lodi, Italy, pp. 114–124.Google Scholar
Miraglia, N, Saastamoinen, M, Martin-Rosset, W 2006. Role of pastures in mares and foals management in Europe. In Nutrition and feeding of the broodmare (ed. N Miraglia and W Martin-Rosset), EAAP publication 120, pp. 279–297. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morhain B, Veron J and Martin-Rosset W, 2007. Systèmes fourragers, systèmes d’élevages et d’alimentation des chevaux. Proceedings of the ‘33ème Journée de la Recherche Equine’, Paris, France, pp. 151–163.Google Scholar
Moulin, C 1997. Le pâturage du cheval: questions techniques posées par les pratiques d’éleveurs. Fourrages 149, 37–54.Google Scholar
Peiretti, PG 2005. Prediction of the gross energy value of Mediterranean forages. Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment 3 3 & 4, 102–104.Google Scholar
Putman, RJ, Pratt, RM, Ekins, JR, Edwards, PJ 1987. Food and feeding behaviour of cattle and ponies in the New Fores Hampshire. Journal of Applied Ecology 24, 369–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, JB, Van Soest, PJ 1981. The detergent system of analysis. In The analysis of dietary fibre in food (ed. WPT James and O Theander), pp. 123–158. Marcel Dekker, New York, NY, USA.Google Scholar
Thériez, M, Petit, M, Martin-Rosset, W 1994. Caractéristiques de la conduite des troupeaux allaitants en zones difficiles. Annales de Zootechnie 43, 33–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Soest, PJ, Robertson, JB, Lewis, BA 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and non starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74, 3583–3597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed