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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effect of feeding whole-crop corn silage as dietary roughage on physiological and digestive response of sheep under heat exposure

Md. Mostafizar Rahman A , Paramintra Vinitchaikul A , Arvinda Panthee A , Xue Bi A and Hiroaki Sano A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Ueda 3-18-8, Morioka 020-8550, Japan.

B Corresponding author. Email: sano@iwate-u.ac.jp

Animal Production Science 57(3) 505-512 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN15116
Submitted: 1 March 2015  Accepted: 27 November 2015   Published: 5 April 2016

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding whole-crop corn silage (WCS) compared with mixed hay (MH) or grass silage (GS) on physiological and digestive responses of sheep at thermoneutral temperature (20°C) or exposed to heat (30°C). Six sheep were fed ad libitum with one of three diets in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design for 24 days. After 14 days’ adaptation, they were exposed to thermoneutral (20°C) and then heat exposure (30°C) for 5 days each. Rumen sample was collected on Day 4, whereas physiological response and nitrogen (N) balance were carried-out for three successive days in each exposure period. Respiration rate and rectal temperature of WCS-fed sheep were lower (P < 0.05) than of MH and GS fed sheep and both were higher (P < 0.01) during heat exposure. The intakes of dry matter (DM) and N and the digestibilities of N and neutral detergent fibre were lower (P < 0.05) for the WCS diet than for MH and GS diets and they did not differ between two temperature exposures. However, WCS-fed sheep had higher (P < 0.05) digestibilities of DM and organic matter, as well as metabolisable energy intake (M/D) than the sheep fed MH or GS diet, and there was no temperature effect on them. As DM and N intakes were lower for the WCS diet, the variables of rumen fermentation were also lower (P < 0.05) than the other two diets except propionate and butyrate concentrations, and they did not differ between temperature exposures except NH3 concentration. In conclusion, physiological responses were improved in the WCS diet and this approach thus shows promise for feeding heat-exposed animals. However, as results were inconsistent in terms of nutrient intake and digestibility, further work is needed and we suggest investigating the effect of feeding WCS with supplemented N.

Additional keywords: heat stress, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation characteristics, ruminants.


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