The main objective of this research was to assess the
nutritional status of sheep and goats grazing two rangeland
types in Baluchistan, Pakistan. These types were Artemisia
maritima/Haloxylon griffithii association represented by the
Zarchi Field Station and Cymbopogon shoenanthus, found at
the Tomagh Field Station. Seasonal above ground biomass
production and variability in the quality of major plant
species was determined at four phenological growth stages
for two years. At the same time a relative palatability
index of major plant species and preference of sheep and
goats was also determined. The Analysis of Variance
procedures (ANOVA) of Statistical Analysis System (SAS,
1985) were used to evaluate various null hypotheses.
Forage quality decreased with the advancement of
phenological growth stages in all plants studied. On both
study sites (Tomagh and Zarchi), spring forage samples were
of higher quality than those of other seasons. Advance in
season brought significant changes in the nutrient content
of plant species. Grasses were lower in crude protein
concentration and higher in neutral detergent fiber (NDF)
content than forbs and shrubs. Plant species were not
statistically different in phosphorus concentration.
From March through October, sheep and goat diets varied
in their botanical composition on both study sites. Grasses
remained a major component of animal diets at Tomagh
throughout the grazing seasons. However, sheep and goats
consumed a higher percentage of shrubs with the passage of
time while grazing Zarchi area. Across all the grazing
seasons, the diets of both animal species were deficient in
protein and phosphorus.
The lignin ratio technique was evaluated for its use in
determining daily dry matter and apparent nutrient
digestibility consumed by grazing animals. Highly variable
digestion co-efficients of lignin (both positive and
negative) were obtained by using sheep and goat rumen
liquors. As much as 51.0% of forage lignin in samples was
digested. Negative lignin digestion co-efficients were also
obtained from forage samples. These ranged from -1.0% to -
103.0%. Lignin biodegradation and/or complexing during in
vitro digestion invalidated its use as an internal marker in
digestion studies on these rangelands. / Graduation date: 1991
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/37446 |
| Date | 29 August 1990 |
| Creators | Wahid, Abdul |
| Contributors | Johnson, Douglas E. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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