´ 30
J .A. Abijaoude et al. Livestock Production Science 64 2000 29 –37
two long periods per day called main M meals levels resulted in increased eating and rumination
separated by several smaller meals called secondary times in cows. In goats, chewing time min g DM ?
0.75
Sc meals. This occurs even with only one dis- kgW
decreased as the level of intake increased tribution of feeds per day to pen-fed ruminants
Santini et al., 1992. Dulphy et al., 1990. Geoffroy 1974 with goats
De Boever et al. 1990 reported that ruminating and sheep fed forage and silage diets, and Baumont
time per unit of feed changes relatively a little up to et al. 1997 with sheep fed different kinds of
a concentrate level of approximately 50 in the diet forages, found that daily intake is mainly determined
of cows, but strongly increases with higher per- by the quantities ingested during the two M meals
centages. but Morand-Fehr et al. 1991 suggested that the
Our objectives were to determine the effects of number of Sc meals is the most important factor
forage concentrate ratio and type of starch on the explaining intake differences between goats fed the
feeding behaviour and chewing activities of stall- same forage diets.
housed dairy goats in mid lactation using four Intake rate was found to be responsible for most of
experimental diets. the difference in daily intake and intake in M meals
of sheep fed various types of hay Baumont et al., 1997. Gill and Romney 1994 found a positive
2. Materials and methods
correlation between intake rate at the beginning of M meals and daily intake in goats.
Eight multiparous Alpine and Saanen dairy goats With a decreasing forage concentrate ratio, eating
in mid lactation 140 days postpartum, weighing time per unit of feed initially declines rapidly in
65.8610.9 kg with a mean milk yield at start of trial cows, but this trend slows down and can even
of 2.260.6 kg day were used for a 12-week experi- reverse for diets which are exclusively made of
ment. The eight goats, fitted with ruminal cannulae, ´
concentrates Bines and Davey, 1970; Remond, were housed individually in 2 3 1 m shaded pens
1972. For proportions of concentrates under 40, with wooden floors. The goats were alloted in pairs.
Dulphy et al. 1996 found that, in dairy cows, All goats had free access to water and to trace-
chewing time per unit of feed can be considered as mineralized salt blocks.
constant. Bae et al. 1981 showed that increased hay They were offered four complete experimental
Table 1 Composition DM and characteristics of the experimental diets offered to dairy goats
Diets CR
CS FR
FS Lucerne hay
15 15
27.5 27.5
Dehydrated lucerne 15
15 27.5
27.5 Pressed beet pulp silage
35 35
10 10
Barley 26
26 Maize
26 26
Soybean meal 8
8 8
8 Minerals
1 1
1 1
Dry matter 45.5
45.0 45.2
46.2 Total crude protein g kg DM
160 154
179 173
Organic matter g kg DM 923
922 918
918 NDF g kg DM
404 383
411 404
ADF g kg DM 215
205 235
235 ADL g kg DM
24 24
35 35
Organic matter digestibility 74.1
74.8 68.0
65.8
´ J
.A. Abijaoude et al. Livestock Production Science 64 2000 29 –37 31
diets CR, CS, FR and FS Table 1 which differed in ory. It is fixed on a U-shaped plastic base fastened
forage concentrate ratio: low C 5 30 70 or high by means of a harness to the back of the goats. With
F 5 55 45, and starch source: rapidly R or slowly this system, the animals are, after a short period of
S degradable in the rumen. Lucerne hay, used in adaptation, able to move easily without being dis-
the diets, was chopped on a 5-cm screen and grains turbed or damaging the device. The animals carried
of barley and maize were rolled. Water was added to the device only during the period of tests but the
the high forage diets in order to have approximately basal part, the harness and the halter around the head
the same DM content in all the experimental diets and muzzle throughout the experiment to eliminate
45. The goats were fed ad libitum refusals problems of adaptation each time recordings were
always exceeded 10 of the distributed diet in a made.
4 3 4 latin square design, every pair receiving one of Digestibility tests were conducted on eight other
the four diets for a period of 3 weeks. These diets goats in metabolic crates in the same experimental
were distributed twice daily at 08:00 and 17:00 h. conditions as those subjected to behavioural record-
Refusals were discarded every morning and evening. ing.
M and Sc meals occurring after the first distribution Jaw movement recordings were divided into 1-h
in the morning will be called day D meals and the intervals for analysis. The general model of analysis
ones after the second distribution, in the evening and contained effects of diet
a , 3 dF, animal b , 7
i j
night will be called evening E meals. dF, period
x , 3 dF
k
As there is no uniform determination of the end of meals, we fixed the end of M meals when a non-
Y 5
m 1 a 1 b 1 x 1 E
ijk i
j k
ijk
ingestion period of at least 20 min began. This value corresponded to the first smallest idling period
where Y 5calculated variable, m 5overall mean
ijk
encountered after diet distribution. Determination of and E 5residual standard deviation used as the
ijk
Sc meals limits was a little more difficult. We defined error term. A Day Evening effect 1 dF was
as Sc meal every intake exceeding 150 g and or 5 occasionally added to this model. Data were ana-
min of time. lyzed using the GLM procedure of SAS 1996.
The goats were offered a mixture of the four experimental diets for 3 weeks before the onset of
the experiment. During the first 10 days of each period, the animals were adapted to the daily diet.
3. Results
