Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150081, P.R. China.
*For correspondence: Tel: 86 431 85542231; Fax: 86 431 85542298; E-mail: zhoudaowei@neigae.ac.cn
1Supported by funds from National Basic Research Program of China, Grant No. 2007CB106800.
This study aimed to quantify diet composition and daily DM intake of sheep grazing soybean and maize residues in the northeast of China. The diet composition and daily DM intake were evaluated using concentrations of odd alkane in residue and feces, combined with the method of total fecal collection. The average available dry matter was 1722 kg ha−1 and 408 kg ha−1 for soybean and maize residues, respectively, leaf being the most predominant. Weeds constituted a major component of dry matter intake. The ME and CP intake for soybean residue could satisfy the requirement of growth for sheep to some extent. But maize residue could only provide the ME and CP for maintenance. It was concluded that soybean residue is a more valuable feed source than maize residue for grazing sheep and classified grazing strategy should be considered in these regions.
Diet composition, intake, sheep, soybean, maize, residue
