Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences
J. Anim. Plant Sci. [ISSN 2071 - 7024]
Volume 16(3): 2369 - 2373. Published January, 2013.
Improving Tibetan sheep daily weight gain by concentrate in the cold season to overcome overgrazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
FENG Bing-fu1, 2, 3, ZHAO Xin-quan1, XU Shi-xiao1, ZHAO Liang1 , CAO Junhu1 , Zhang Dong-jie21. Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, CSC, Xining 810008,China;
2. Qinghai Vocational and Technique College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Huangyuan 812100, China;
3. University of Chinese Academy of Science, 100049, China
Corresponding author: ZHAO Xin-quan Tel: 0971-6143282 e-mail: xqzhao@nwipb.ac.cn
SUMMARY
Overgrazing
and grassland degradation are ongoing concerns for the Qinghai-Tibetan
Plateau. There is a need to have fewer numbers of grazing animal units
(sheep, yak and dzo (yak-cattle cross)) on the grasslands. The
objective of this study was to investigate a proper forage to raise
Tibetan sheep and prevent grassland from overgrazing .A diet that would
give faster weight gains, and improve efficiency was investigated on 18
castrated Tibetan sheep by measuring the effects on performance using
three different concentrate processing methods (Non-processed
concentrate + oat grass, Steam flaked concentrate + oat grass, Steam
flaked concentrate + silage oat grass). The results showed that a
flaked concentrate feed mixed with silage oat grass had the highest
average daily gain (ADG) among three different concentrate processing
methods. This would thus shorten the lifecycle and reduce the number of
Tibetan sheep and therefore, decrease the grazing pressure on the open
grasslands.
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