Diet composition, biomass yield and mineral contents of vegetation in native tract of Mecheri sheep
Rajendran, D. | Balakrishnan, V.
The diet composition, biomass yield, preference index and mineral contents of vegetation in mountain, fallow and waste/roadside land were assessed in native tract of Mecheri sheep during South West monsoon (June-September) season. Biomass yield (g/m² on DM) was significantly (P<0.01) higher in mountain (743.05) than in fallow land (107.16) and waste/roadside land (187.29). Botanical composition revealed that out of 31 herbage species in mountain land, Acacia planifrons constituted 23.27±6.02%; out of 12 herbage species in fallow land, Cyanodan dactylon constituted 43.28±3.48%; out of 11 herbage species in waste/roadside land, Tephrosia parpuria constituted 19.70±7.47%; and these three were the dominant species in the respective areas. The diet composition of Mecheri sheep consisted of 20, 12 and 10 out of 31, 12 and 11 herbage species in mountain, fallow and waste/roadside land, respectively. Preference index (percentage diet composition/percentage botanical composition) indicated that herbages in the waste/roadside land were more edible than fallow and/or mountain land. Mineral contents of major graze species in the diet composition of mountain as well as fallow land contained Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn and Co above the critical level of 0.3%, and 50, 8, 30, 40 and 0.1 ppm, respectively but phosphorous was below the critical level of 0.25%. These observations indicates that to balance the phosphorous requirement, sheep that are grazed at mountain land or fallow land needs to be grazed at waste/roadside land at least on rotational basis or may be supplemented with area specific mineral mixture or concentrate feed.
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