tailieunhanh - Matching ingestive behaviour of goats to local feed resources

This study was undertaken to find ways of reducing the time taken by goats to begin to eat an edible feed that they have not previously encountered. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the time taken for goats (7-8 months old) to ingest an unfamiliar feed (rice straw) was shorter (4 days) when it was first offered to them in the presence of familiar positive cues (the odor or flavor of juices extracted from previously eaten, nutritionally beneficial grasses), than if it was offered in the absence of such cues (10 days). | JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, Hue University, Vol. 67, No. 4A, 2011 MATCHING INGESTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF GOATS TO LOCAL FEED RESOURCES Phan Vu Hai, Ho Trung Thong and Dam Van Tien College of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University Abstract. This study was undertaken to find ways of reducing the time taken by goats to begin to eat an edible feed that they have not previously encountered. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the time taken for goats (7-8 months old) to ingest an unfamiliar feed (rice straw) was shorter (4 days) when it was first offered to them in the presence of familiar positive cues (the odor or flavor of juices extracted from previously eaten, nutritionally beneficial grasses), than if it was offered in the absence of such cues (10 days). In contrast, when the feed was offered in the presence of the odor of parasitised goat feces, the time to first ingestion was extended to 20 days. Experiment 2 showed that when sixmonth old goats were exposed to feeds they had not experienced previously (rice straw or rice bran) they did not ingest these feeds in less than 7 days. However, they commenced ingesting these feeds immediately if they had been exposed to them, prior to weaning, in the presence of their mother or another adult goat. Application of the principles of feeding behavior, as illustrated by the present studies, to goats in Vietnam may improve their production, especially when diets are changed frequently and include both familiar and unfamiliar materials. Keywords: Behavior; Diet selection; Flavor; Neophobia; Social facilitation; Goat. 1 Introduction Production of animals that are hand-fed or kept in feedlots, or during periods of drought, is likely to be sub-optimal if they are slow to begin ingesting new feeds after their diet is suddenly changed. In many vertebrate species, neophobia is common when individuals are confronted with unfamiliar but edible feeds. It is probably the basis of a protective process that allows animals to avoid toxicosis while .