Goats versus sheep: effect of coat thickness and body composition on maintenance energy requirement
Nutrient requirements of goats are ill-defined and those used are largely based on sheep. Eighteen British Saanen castrate goats (G) and eighteen Suffolk cross Scottish Halfbred wethers (S) were used to compare species and presence or absence of wool/hair coat (+C, -C). Live weights ranged from 40 to 89 kg in goats, and 40-85 kg in sheep. During the 84-day trial, animals were housed and individually fed pelleted lucerne at a rate to maintain constant live weight. Mean ambient temperature was 9¦C. The trial was terminated by slaughtering the animals and analysing for moisture, nitrogen, ether extract and energy. For G-C, G+C, S-C, S+C, respectively, dry matter requirements (g/kgW0.75.day) were 55, 52, 48; energy digestibilities (percentage) were 61.6, 60.6, 60.1, 62.3; metabolizable energy requirements (MJ/kgW0.75.day) were 0.489, 0.472, 0.433, 0.397. Surprisingly, sheep and goats did not differ significantly in body composition. In both species maintenance energy requirement was significantly correlated with body nitrogen content, but not with ether extract content. The difference between the species, in maintenance energy requirement, is considerably affected by coat thickness
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
Scottsdale, AZ (EUA)
1982
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