Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T11:35:40.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of consumption of foods that differ in energy density and/or sodium bicarbonate supplementation on subsequent diet selection in sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Sarah M. James  and
Ilias Kyriazakis
Sarah M. James
Affiliation:
Animal Nutrition and Health Department, Animal Biology Division, Scottish Agricultural College, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG Scotland, UK
Ilias Kyriazakis*
Affiliation:
Animal Nutrition and Health Department, Animal Biology Division, Scottish Agricultural College, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG Scotland, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Professor I. Kyriazakis, fax +44 131 535 3121, email i.kyriazakis@ed.sac.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The short-term consumption of foods that differed in energy density (ED) and/or NaHCO3 supplementation, on subsequent food intake and diet selection in sheep were measured. Thirty sheep weighing 35·9 (SD 2·89) KG WERE USED. TWO FOODS WERE FORMULATED: H HAD 11 AND L HAD 8 MJ METABOLIZABLE ENERGY/KG FRESH MATTER. FOUR FURTHER FOODS WERE FORMULATED BY ADDING EITHER 40 G NAHCO3/KG OR 16·5 G NACL/KG TO FOODS H AND L. NACL WAS ADDED TO GIVE THE SAME NA CONCENTRATION AS WITH 40 G NAHCO3/KG TO CONTROL FOR ANY EFFECTS OF NA PER SE. IN A PRELIMINARY TEST, IT WAS FOUND THAT A 2 H CONSUMPTION OF FOOD H SUPPLEMENTED WITH NAHCO3 COULD BUFFER POTENTIAL IMPACT ON THE RUMEN ENVIRONMENT OF SUBSEQUENT CONSUMPTION OF FOOD H ALONE (AS JUDGED BY RUMEN PH AND ACID-BUFFERING CAPACITY); HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT AS EFFECTIVE AS THE CONSUMPTION OF FOOD L ALONE IN DOING SO. EACH FOOD TREATMENT WAS OFFERED TO ONE OF SIX GROUPS (N 5) FOR 2 H FOLLOWING 16 H OF FOOD DEPRIVATION. SHEEP WERE THEN OFFERED A CHOICE BETWEEN H AND L FOR A FURTHER 6 H. SUPPLEMENTING H OR L WITH EITHER NAHCO3 OR NACL HAD NO SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON EITHER INTAKE OR DIET SELECTION. ED SIGNIFICANTLY (P<0·01) AFFECTED INTAKE DURING THE 2 H SINGLE FEEDING PERIOD, WITH SHEEP OFFERED H OR L CONSUMING 540 AND 663 (sed 37) g respectively, but had no effect on subsequent intake during the choice period. During the choice period all sheep showed a preference for food H, but sheep previously offered L selected significantly more H (0·873 g/g) than sheep previously offered H (0·544 (sed 0·028) g/g; P<0·001). It is concluded that short-term consumption of foods that differ in ED, and hence in their potential impact on the rumen environment, significantly affects subsequent diet selection. This is in agreement with the hypothesis that ruminant animals select a diet to help maintain the rumen environment within a certain physiological range. Food H with 40 g NaHCO3 added/kg may not have been sufficient to affect subsequent diet selection. It is suggested that larger, rather than smaller, changes in the rumen environment achieved through previous feeding should be expected to alter subsequent diet selection.

Keywords

Diet selectionEnergy densitySodium bicarbonateSheep
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 88 , Issue 1 , July 2002 , pp. 81 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2002

References

Agricultural and Food Research Councila (1993) Energy and Protein Requirements of Ruminants. Wallingford: CAB International.Google Scholar
Belovsky, GE (1978) Diet optimization in a generalist herbivore: The moose. Theoretical Population Biology 14, 105–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belovsky, GE & Schmitz, OJ (1994) Plant defenses and optimal foraging by mammalian herbivores. Journal of Mammalogy 75, 816–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, RR & Grovum, WL (1988) Observations on how sodium chloride loading of the rumen depressed food intake in sheep. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 47, 155A.Google Scholar
Carter, RR & Grovum, WL (1990) Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by sheep. 5. The inhibitory effect of hypertonicity in the rumen. British Journal of Nutrition 64, 285–299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charnov, EL (1975) Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem. Theoretical Population Biology 9, 129–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Concha, MA & Nicol, AM (2000) Selection by sheep and goats for perennial ryegrass and white clover offered over a range of sward height contrasts. Grass and Forage Science 55, 47–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, SDB, Kyriazakis, I & Nolan, JV (1995) Diet selection in sheep – The role of the rumen environment in the selection of a diet from two feeds that differ in their energy density. British Journal of Nutrition 74, 35–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, SDB, Kyriazakis, I & Oldham, JD (1994) The effect of late pregnancy on the diet selection made by ewes. Livestock Production Science 40, 263–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, SDB, Kyriazakis, I & Oldham, JD (1996) The effects of physical form of feed, carbohydrate sources, and inclusion of sodium bicarbonate on the diet selection of sheep. Journal of Animal Science 74, 1240–1251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erdman, RA (1988) Dietary buffering requirements of the lactating dairy cow: A review. Journal of Dairy Science 71, 3246–3266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faverdin, P (1999) The effect of nutrients on feed intake in ruminants. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 58, 523–531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ha, JA, Emerick, RJ & Embry, LB (1983) In vitro effect of pH variations on rumen fermentation and in vivo effects of buffers in lambs before and after adaptation to high concentrate diets. Journal of Animal Science 56, 698–706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hart, SP & Polan, CE (1984) Effects of sodium bicarbonate and disodium phosphate on animal performance, ruminal metabolism, digestion, and rate of passage in ruminating calves. Journal of Dairy Science 67, 2356–2368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Illius, AW, Clark, DA & Hodgson, J (1992) Discrimination and patch choice by sheep grazing grass–clover swards. Journal of Animal Ecology 61, 183–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jasaitis, DK, Wohlt, JE & Evans, JL (1987) Influence of feed ion content on buffering capacity of ruminant feedstuffs in vitro. Journal of Dairy Science 70, 1397–1403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, W (1976) Influence of the composition of the ration and the feeding frequency on pH regulation in the rumen and on feed intake. Livestock Production Science 3, 103–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenney, PA & Black, JL (1984) Factors affecting diet selection in sheep. I. Potential intake rate and acceptability of feed. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 35, 551–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyriazakis, I (1997) The Nutritional Choices of Farm Animals: To Eat or What To Eat? In Animal Choices, pp. 55–65 [Forbes, JM, Lawrence, TLJ, Rodway, RG and Varley, MA, editors]. Edinburgh: British Society of Animal Science.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I & Day, JEL (1998) Does the study of feeding behaviour benefit from a teleonomic framework? Nutrition Research Reviews 11, 223–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyriazakis, I & Oldham, JD (1993) Diet selection in sheep: the ability of growing lambs to select a diet that meets their crude protein (nitrogen × 6·25) requirements. British Journal of Nutrition 69, 617–629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kyriazakis, I & Oldham, JD (1997) Food intake and diet selection in sheep: the effect of manipulating the rates of digestion of carbohydrates and proteins of the foods offered as a choice. British Journal of Nutrition 77, 243–254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kyriazakis, I, Tolkamp, BJ & Emmans, GC (1999) Diet selection and animal state: An integrative framework. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 58, 765–772.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McBurney, MI, Van Soest, PJ & Chase, LE (1983) Cation exchange capacity and buffering capacity of neutral-detergent fibres. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 34, 910–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, RI, Gilchrist, MC, Robberts, AM, Hannah, PE & Schwartz, HM (1978) Microbial and chemical changes in the rumen during the stepwise adaptation of sheep to high concentrate diets. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 90, 241–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1990) UK Tables of Nutritive Value and Chemical Composition of Feeding Stuffs [Givens, DI and Angela, R Moss, editors]. Aberdeen: Rowett Research Services Ltd.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1993) The determination of neutral detergent (plus amylase) fibre (NDF) of feeding stuffs, appendix III. In Prediction of the Energy Values of Compound Feeding Stuffs for Farm Animals: Summary of Recommendations of a Working Party Sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. London: MAFF Publications.Google Scholar
Newman, JA, Penning, PD, Parsons, AJ, Harvey, A & Orr, RJ (1994) Fasting affects intake behavior and diet preference of grazing sheep. Animal Behavior 47, 185–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osbourn, DF, Terry, RA, Cammell, BB & Outen, GE (1970) Some effects of feeding supplements of maize meal and sodium bicarbonate upon the digestion of forage cellulose by sheep. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 29, 12A.Google ScholarPubMed
Owens, FN, Secrist, DS, Hill, WJ & Gill, DR (1998) Acidosis in cattle: A review. Journal of Animal Science 76, 275–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parsons, AJ, Newman, JA, Penning, PD, Harvey, A & Orr, RJ (1994) Diet preference of sheep: effects of recent diet, physiological state and species abundance. Journal of Animal Ecology 63, 465–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phy, TS & Provenza, FD (1998a) Eating barley too frequently or in excess decreases lambs' preference for barley but sodium bicarbonate and lasalocid attenuate the response. Journal of Animal Science 76, 1578–1583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phy, TS & Provenza, FD (1998b) Sheep fed grain prefer foods and solutions that attenuate acidosis. Journal of Animal Science 76, 954–960.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Provenza, FD (1995) Postingestive feedback as an elementary determinant of food preference and intake in ruminants. Journal of Range Management 48, 2–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, JB, Sharp, WM & Baldwin, RL (1979) The effect of pH on maximum bacterial growth rate and its possible role as a determinant of bacterial composition in the rumen. Journal of Animal Science 48, 251–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, DW & Krebs, JR (1986) Foraging Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Van Wieren, SE (1996) Do large herbivores select a diet that maximizes short-term energy intake rate? Forest Ecology and Management 88, 149–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar