Comparative performance of sheep and goats grazed on silvipasture and natural grassland.

摘要

This study was conducted to compare the performance of sheep and goats on silvopastoral and natural grassland systems. 12 rams and 12 bucks were divided into 2 groups of 6 species each. One group was introduced for grazing in the silvopastoral and the other group in the natural grassland. The forage yield in the silvopastoral system was 1.5-2.3 times higher than in the natural grassland. The crude protein yield in the silvopastoral system was 2.5-4.0 times higher than in the natural grassland. Thus, the silvopastoral system provided higher quality forage production than the natural grassland. The body weight gains of sheep and goats grazed on silvopastoral system were 2.1 and 28.6 g/h/day, respectively. In the case of animals grazed on natural grassland showed that goats gained 10.8 g/h/day in their body weight, whereas sheep lost 27.4 g/h/day in their body weight. The liveweight gains of goats and sheep grazed on silvopastoral system were 41.4 and 3.0 kg/ha, respectively. Values in goats and sheep grazed on natural grassland were 7.8 and 19.8 kg/ha, respectively. Wool production was better in animals grazed on silvopastoral system.