The use of lithium chloride for estimating supplement intake in grazing sheep: estimates of heritability and repeatability.
1994
Kahn L.P.
Eight Merino weaners (10 months), grazing improved pasture, were individually fed cottonseed meal pellets coated with Li chloride, and plasma Li concentrations were then measured over the next 29 h. The results of this study showed that after ingestion of Li, plasma Li concentrations rose to reach a maximum 4 h later. This maximum remained substantially constant between 4 and 14 h after Li ingestion and then declined slowly. The use of plasma Li concentration (scaled for liveweight) 4-9 h after Li ingestion facilitated accurate prediction of supplement intake. In a following experiment, 732 Merino weaners (10 months) were split into 2 groups by randomized stratification. These groups were fed a cottonseed meal supplement at either 55 or 110 g per head per day. In order to estimate individual supplement intake over a 62 day period the supplement was coated with Li chloride on 3 occasions at monthly intervales. The results of the 3 estimates of intake showed that within mobs large variation in supplement intake existed. Both the heritability (0.17) and repeatability (0.48) of supplement intake as estimated from paternal half-sib analysis were significantly different from zero.
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