›› 2013, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (11): 97-101.

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Effects of Time-limited Grazing on the Digestive Tract Development of Tan Sheep

LIU Xue-liang1, LUO Hai-ling1, CHEN Yong1, WANG Zhen-zhen1, LIU Yu-hong2, LI Ke-chang3, ZHANG Yu-wei1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. Yanchi Grassland Work Station of Ningxia Hui Nationality Autonomous Region, Yanchi 751500, China;
    3. Ningxia Hui Nationality Autonomous Region Grassland Work Station, Yinchuan 750002, China
  • Received:2013-04-09 Online:2013-11-20 Published:2013-12-19

Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the effects of time-limited grazing on the digestive tract development of Tan sheep. A total of 50 male sheep,1.5 months after weaning with similar initial body weight,were randomly divided into 5 groups,respectively,A group was grazing for 12 h,without supplementary feeding;B group was grazing for 8 h with supplementary feeding;C group was grazing for 4 h with supplementary feeding;D group was grazing for 2 h with supplementary feeding;E group was feeding with no grazing. All sheep were slaughtered after 4 months to collect digestive tract for analysis. The results showed that with increasing time of grazing,the weight of sheep stomachs and jejunum increased, and they were significantly higher in group A than those in group E (P<0.05). In addition,as a result of time-limited grazing,the height of rumen papillae increased,but the width of papillae decreased, the height of papillae in the grazing for groups C and D were significantly higher than those in group E (P<0.05),while the width of papillae in groups B and C were significantly lower than that in group E (P<0.05). The height of intestinal villus of jejunum also increased due to the grazing,they were significantly higher in groups A and B than those in group E (P<0.05). The results indicated that the gastrointestinal tract had a fine development in groups C and D under the condition of appropriate grazing and supplementary feeding.

Key words: Tan sheep; time-limited grazing; digestive tract; weight; morphology

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