Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T15:32:28.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of increasing the proportion of chicory in forage-based diets on intake and digestion by sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2018

V. Niderkorn Open the ORCID record for V. Niderkorn [Opens in a new window] ,
C. Martin ,
M. Bernard ,
A. Le Morvan ,
Y. Rochette  and
R. Baumont
V. Niderkorn*
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
C. Martin
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
M. Bernard
Affiliation:
UE1414 Herbipole, INRA, F-63122Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
A. Le Morvan
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
Y. Rochette
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
R. Baumont
Affiliation:
Université Clermont Auvergne, INRA, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, F-63122Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

There is a lot of evidence that chicory could be a highly palatable and nutritious source of forage for ruminants, well adapted to climate change and dry conditions in summer, thanks to its resistance to drought and high water content. This study aimed to describe the effect of incorporating chicory to ryegrass or to a ryegrass–white clover mixture on feeding behaviour, digestive parameters, nitrogen (N) balance and methane (CH4) emissions in sheep. In total, three swards of ryegrass, white clover and chicory were established and managed in a manner ensuring the forage use at a constant vegetative stage throughout the experiment. In all, four dietary treatments (pure ryegrass; binary mixture: 50% ryegrass–50% chicory; ternary mixture: 50% ryegrass–25% white clover–25% chicory; and pure chicory) were evaluated in a 4×4 replicated Latin square design with eight young castrated Texel sheep. Each experimental period consisted of an 8-day diet adaptation phase, followed by a 6-day measuring phase during which intake dynamics, chewing activity, digestibility, rumen liquid passage rate, fermentation end-products, N balance and CH4 emissions were determined. Data were analysed using a mixed model and orthogonal contrasts were used to detect the potential associative effects between ryegrass and chicory. The daily voluntary dry matter intake was lower for pure ryegrass than for diets containing chicory (P<0.001) and increased quadratically from 1.39 to 1.74 kg/day with increasing proportion of chicory. Huge positive quadratic effects (P<0.001) between ryegrass and chicory were detected on eating time and eating rate just after feeding indicating an increase of the motivation to eat with mixtures, whereas rumination activity decreased linearly with the proportion of chicory (P<0.001). The organic matter digestibility was similar among treatments (around 80%), but a strong positive quadratic P<0.001) effect was observed on liquid passage rate suggesting that chicory allowed fast particle breakdown in the rumen. Animals fed with the ryegrass–white clover–chicory mixture had the higher urinary N losses (P<0.001), whereas retained N per day or per g N intake was greater when the proportion of chicory was at least 50% (P<0.001) being ~40% greater than for the other treatments. The CH4 yield was lower with pure chicory than with the other treatments (P<0.001) for which emissions were similar. In conclusion, mixing ryegrass and chicory in equal proportions produces a synergy on voluntary intake and an improved N use efficiency likely due to complementarity in chemical composition, increased motivation to eat and faster ruminal particle breakdown.

Keywords

chicoryforage mixturesassociative effectsfeeding behaviourmethane
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , April 2019 , pp. 718 - 726
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2018 

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

Arnell, NW 2004. Climate change and global water resources: SRES emissions and socio-economic scenarios. Global Environmental Change 14, 31–52.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) 1995. Official methods of analysis, 16th edition. AOAC, Arlington, VA, USA.Google Scholar
Barry, T 1998. The feeding value of chicory (Cichorium intybus) for ruminant livestock. The Journal of Agricultural Science 131, 251–257.Google Scholar
Baumont, R, Chenost, M and Demarquilly, C 2004. Measurement of herbage intake and ingestive behaviour by housed animals. In Herbage intake handbook (ed. PD Penning), pp. 121–150, 2nd edition. British Grassland Society, Reading, UK.Google Scholar
Dumont, B, Andueza, D, Niderkorn, V, Lüscher, A, Porqueddu, C and Picon‐Cochard, C 2015. A meta‐analysis of climate change effects on forage quality in grasslands: specificities of mountain and Mediterranean areas. Grass and Forage Science 70, 239–254.Google Scholar
Estrada, JC, Delagarde, R, Faverdin, P and Peyraud, J 2004. Dry matter intake and eating rate of grass by dairy cows is restricted by internal, but not external water. Animal Feed Science and Technology 114, 59–74.Google Scholar
Gilgen, A and Buchmann, N 2009. Response of temperate grasslands at different altitudes to simulated summer drought differed but scaled with annual precipitation. Biogeosciences 6, 2525–2539.Google Scholar
Gregorini, P, Minnee, E, Griffiths, W and Lee, J 2013. Dairy cows increase ingestive mastication and reduce ruminative chewing when grazing chicory and plantain. Journal of Dairy Science 96, 7798–7805.Google Scholar
Hegarty, R 2004. Genotype differences and their impact on digestive tract function of ruminants: a review. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 44, 459–467.Google Scholar
Howden, SM, Soussana, J-F, Tubiello, FN, Chhetri, N, Dunlop, M and Meinke, H 2007. Adapting agriculture to climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104, 19691–19696.Google Scholar
Hutton, P, Kenyon, P, Bedi, M, Kemp, P, Stafford, K, West, D and Morris, S 2011. A herb and legume sward mix increased ewe milk production and ewe and lamb live weight gain to weaning compared to a ryegrass dominant sward. Animal Feed Science and Technology 164, 1–7.Google Scholar
Jarrige, R 1978. Principes de la nutrition et de l’alimentation des ruminants; besoins alimentaires des animaux, valeur nutritive des aliments. INRA Publications, Versailles, France.Google Scholar
Komolong, MK 1994. Nutrient supply for lamb growth from grasslands Puna chicory (Cichorium intybus) and Wana cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata). Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 52, 85–87.Google Scholar
Kusmartono, SA and Barry, TN 1997. Rumen digestion and rumen outflow rate in deer fed fresh chicory (Cichorium intybus) or perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Journal of Agricultural Science 128, 87–94.Google Scholar
Li, G and Kemp, PD 2005. Forage chicory (Cichorium intybus L.): a review of its agronomy and animal production. Advances in Agronomy 88, 187–222.Google Scholar
Marley, CL, Fychan, R, Davies, JW, Scollan, ND, Richardson, RI, Theobald, VJ, Genever, E, Forbes, AB and Sanderson, R 2014. Effects of chicory/perennial ryegrass swards compared with perennial ryegrass swards on the performance and carcass quality of grazing beef steers. PLoS One 9, e86259.Google Scholar
Martin, C, Rouel, J, Jouany, JP, Doreau, M and Chilliard, Y 2008. Methane output and diet digestibility in response to feeding dairy cows crude linseed, extruded linseed, or linseed oil. Journal of Animal Science 86, 2642–2650.Google Scholar
Mertens, D 1987. Predicting intake and digestibility using mathematical models of ruminal function. Journal of Animal Science 64, 1548–1558.Google Scholar
Morgavi, DP, Boudra, H, Jouany, JP and Graviou, D 2003. Prevention of patulin toxicity on rumen microbial fermentation by SH-containing reducing agents. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51, 6906–6910.Google Scholar
Niderkorn, V, Baumont, R, Le Morvan, A and Macheboeuf, D 2011. Occurrence of associative effects between grasses and legumes in binary mixtures on in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics. Journal of Animal Science 89, 1138–1145.Google Scholar
Niderkorn, V, Martin, C, Le Morvan, A, Rochette, Y, Awad, M and Baumont, R 2017. Associative effects between fresh perennial ryegrass and white clover on dynamics of intake and digestion in sheep. Grass and Forage Science 72, 691–699.Google Scholar
Niderkorn, V, Martin, C, Rochette, Y, Julien, S and Baumont, R 2015. Associative effects between orchardgrass and red clover silages on voluntary intake and digestion in sheep: evidence of a synergy on digestible dry matter intake. Journal of Animal Science 93, 4967–4976.Google Scholar
Pinares-Patiño, C, Baumont, R and Martin, C 2003. Methane emissions by Charolais cows grazing a monospecific pasture of timothy at four stages of maturity. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 83, 769–777.Google Scholar
Roca-Fernández, A, Peyraud, J-L, Delaby, L and Delagarde, R 2016. Pasture intake and milk production of dairy cows rotationally grazing on multi-species swards. Animal 10, 1448–1456.Google Scholar
SAS 2013. Statistical analysis systems (SAS Enterprise guide software). SAS® Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.Google Scholar
Sun, X, Hoskin, S, Zhang, G, Molano, G, Muetzel, S, Pinares-Patiño, C, Clark, H and Pacheco, D 2012. Sheep fed forage chicory (Cichorium intybus) or perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) have similar methane emissions. Animal Feed Science and Technology 172, 217–225.Google Scholar
Swainson, N, Hoskin, S, Clark, H and Brookes, I 2008. The effect of coconut oil and monensin on methane emissions from sheep fed either fresh perennial ryegrass pasture or chicory. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, lxxviii–lxxviii.Google Scholar
Totty, V, Greenwood, S, Bryant, R and Edwards, G 2013. Nitrogen partitioning and milk production of dairy cows grazing simple and diverse pastures. Journal of Dairy Science 96, 141–149.Google Scholar
Van Soest, PJ, Robertson, JB and Lewis, BA 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and nonstarch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74, 3583–3597.Google Scholar
Waghorn, G, Tavendale, M and Woodfield, D 2002. Methanogenisis from forages fed to sheep. Proceedings of the New Zealand grassland Association 64, 167–171.Google Scholar
Weatherburn, M 1967. Phenol-hypochlorite reaction for determination of ammonia. Analytical Chemistry 39, 971–974.Google Scholar