Productive and ingestive behavior in growing hair sheep in silvopastoral and stabled weight-gain systems.

In sheep silvopastoral systems, forage legumes are promising alternatives to commercial feed since they can lower costs. An evaluation was done comparing productive and ingestive behavior parameters in hair sheep in silvopastoral and stabled systems for four months. Nine variables were evaluated: dry matter intake (DMI); organic matter intake (OMI); crude protein intake (CPI); neutral detergent fiber intake (NDFI); daily weight gain (DWG); feeding time (FT); rumination (RT); walking (WT); and other activities time (OAT). Experimental animals were eighteen sheep (initial weight= 16.83 x 2.57 kg) distributed in a completely random design, with three treatments: a silvopastoral system (SPS) including the legume Leucaena leucocephala and the grass Cynodon plectostachyus (L+E); another SPS including L. leucocephala and the grass Panicum maximum (L+M); and a stabled weightgain system (SWS). Orthogonal contrasts were applied to compare the SWS vs SPSs and the two SPSs. Compared to the two SPSs, all intakes (DMI= 1246.2 g; OMI= 1073.0 g; CPI= 157.1 g; and NDFI= 364.0 g animal d-1) and DWG (195 g animal d-1) were higher (P<0.001) in the SWS. Daily weight gain did not differ between the SPSs (102 and 114 g animal d-1), but all intakes were higher (P<0.001) in L+M (DMI= 772.2 g; OMI= 662.7 g; CPI= 124.0 g; and NDFI= 334.2 g animal d-1) than in L+E (DMI= 548.9 g; OMI= 86.20 g; CPI= 483.0 g; NDFI= 252.3 g animal d-1). Feeding time (FT) was shortest (P<0.001) in the SWS (148.33 min). Between the SPSs, FT was shortest (P<0.05) in the L+E (318.3 min) than in the L+M (344.6 min). Time dedicated to other activities was longer (P<0.001) in the SWS (247.9 min) than in the SPSs. Silvopastoral systems combining legumes and grasses provided sufficient growth in hair sheep although the stabled weight gain system produced faster growth in the studied time period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]