Animal Husbandry and Feed Science ›› 2015, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (8): 26-26.doi: 10.12160/j.issn.1672-5190.2015.08.008

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Effects of Seasons on Forage Ingestion and Fecal Characteristics in Inner Mongolian White Cashmere Goats

JING Hong-jun, DING Ying, WANG Yue, Narenhua (College of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China)   

  • Online:2015-08-20 Published:2015-08-20

Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of different seasons on forage ingestion and fecal characteristics in Inner Mongolian white cashmere goats and to provide theoretical basis for the utilization of their faeces, the nutrient analysis was conducted on the main forage ingested by three types of female Inner Mongolian white cashmere goats in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, respectively, and the faecal samples were collected to access their characteristics. The results showed that the ranges of DM of forge in four consecutive seasons in Erdos, Alashan and Bayannur were 39.60%-53.21%, 40.39%-48.81%, 64.55%-94.50% and 92.00%-95.00%. The NDF of the forge was higher in autumn and winter, while it was lower in spring and summer. The CP of the forge was lowest in winter (4.68%-6.17%) and highest in spring (14.65%-17.44%). The mean phosphorus concentrations of faces in four consecutive seasons were 1.10%, 0.75%, 0.71% and 0.59%, respectively. Significant differences were observed in phosphorus concentrations of faces between three types Inner Mongolian white cashmere goats (P 〈 0.05), the phosphorus concentrations in spring and summer were higher than those in autumn and winter; the average nitrogen concentrations of faces in four consecutive seasons were 1.99%, 1.71%, 1.61% and 1.44%, respectively. The effect of different seasons on faecal nitrogen concentrations was statistically significant (P 〈 0.05 ) with peak in spring and then gradually decreasing; seasons had relatively great influences on the faecal dry matter of different types of cashmere goats. In Arbas and Erlangshan cashmere goats, there were significant differences in faecal dry matter between different seasons (P 〈 0.05 and P 〈 0.01). However, in Alxa goats, no significant differences were observed among different seasons (P 〉 0.05), the mean contents of faecal dry matter in four consecutive seasons were 72.56%, 79.60%, 65.52% and 95.87%, respectively.

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