Proposal to use time spent chewing as an index of the extent to which diets for ruminants possess the physical property of fibrousness characteristic of roughages
- 1 November 1971
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in British Journal of Nutrition
- Vol. 26 (3), 383-392
- https://doi.org/10.1079/bjn19710045
Abstract
1. Previous publications by the author and his colleagues have provided extensive records, and additional ruminating behaviour of cows receiving a wide range of diets. These recoreds, and additional unpublished records, have been used to justify a proposed index of the physical property of fibrousness, or roughage, in diets for ruminants.2. It is proposed that the total time spent by ruminants in chewing their food, during eating and during ruminating, should be the basis of the basis of the roughage index3. Experssion of the roughage index as total time spent chewing per kg dietary dry matter largely eliminates differences resulting from variation in the amount of food consumed, and differences resulting from the time of access to the food.4. Examples of the proposed roughasge index are given. The values range from 145 to 191 min/Kg dry matter for oat straw ot under 20 min/kg dry matter for diets of concentrates or of finely ground herbages; hays and silages tend to fall in the region of 90–110 min/kg dry matter. Values for the indx increase with dietary proportaions of hay or straw.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effect of Varying Amounts of Forage Intake on RuminationJournal of Animal Science, 1969
- Influence of Forage Quality on Rumination Time in SheepJournal of Animal Science, 1969
- Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by cowsBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1966
- THE INTAKE OF HAY AND SILAGE BY COWSGrass and Forage Science, 1966
- A preliminary study of the effect of pregnancy and of lactation on the voluntary intake of food by cowsBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1966
- The relationship between rumination and the amount of roughage eaten by sheepThe Journal of Agricultural Science, 1965
- Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by cowsBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1965
- Artificial Mastication—A New Approach for Predicting Voluntary Forage Consumption by RuminantsJournal of Animal Science, 1964
- 592. Studies of the secretion of milk of low fat content by cows on diets low in hay and high in concentrates: VI. The effect on the physical and biochemical processes of the reticulo-rumenJournal of Dairy Research, 1955
- Factors Affecting the Utilization of Food by Dairy CowsBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1952