科研之友
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摘要
Sustainable management of mountain ranges requires knowledge of the feeding strategy of livestock, especially in unguarded conditions. There have been many studies of feeding on grasslands, but the feeding strategy of cattle on grassland-heathland mosaics is less known. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to analyse how unguarded beef cattle adjust their diet selection in two different scenarios of grassland-heathland availability.
The study was carried out in two grazing areas of Gorbeia Natural Park (Northern Spain). Ranges were composed of three plant communities: grassland (GR), open heathland (OH), and dense heathland (DH). Diet composition, selection, and quality parameters of the cattle herd in each grazing area were determined during four different seasons (spring, summer, late summer, and autumn) of the grazing period for two years.
Graminoids were the dominant component of the cows' diet, followed by shrubs (mainly heather) and then by forbs (69%, 21%, and 10%, respectively). Feeding strategy differed according to the plant composition of the grazing areas. In the range with OH, the cows ingested more heather during all the grazing period. In the range without OH, the cows maintained graminoid ingestion by increasing the proportion of lower-quality varieties in diet, and they refused ranging on DH, likely due to its lower herbaceous availability and nutritive value.
The results show that diet selection depends on the alternative forage offer and highlight the importance of OH as a forage resource for beef cattle. Furthermore, the use of different plant communities and selection of heather might be explained by the differences between patches' composition, structure, and nutritive quality.
- 出版日期2011-6
