Enhancing Sheep Vitality Through Diverse Pastures and Seaweed Bio-Stimulants: Effects on Performance, Health, and Product Quality

Sagara N. Kumara (), Anita Fleming, Fabiellen Pereira, Ashna Khan, Simon Kelly, Gwen-Aelle Grelet and Pablo Gregorini
Additional contact information
Sagara N. Kumara: Centre of Excellence: Designing Future Productive Landscapes, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Anita Fleming: Centre of Excellence: Designing Future Productive Landscapes, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Fabiellen Pereira: Centre of Excellence: Designing Future Productive Landscapes, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Ashna Khan: AgriSea NZ Seaweed Ltd., 7446, State Highway 2, RD 4, Paeroa 3674, New Zealand
Simon Kelly: Lincoln Agritech, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Gwen-Aelle Grelet: Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, Lincoln 7608, New Zealand
Pablo Gregorini: Centre of Excellence: Designing Future Productive Landscapes, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-24

Abstract: This on-farm study explored the effects of diverse pasture systems and seaweed bio-stimulants (AgriSea NZ Seaweed Products, Paeroa, New Zealand) on sheep performance, metabolic health, milk composition, and carcass characteristics. A 3 × 2 factorial design was used to compare three pasture systems; ryegrass-white clover (RW), a 23-species diverse mix (DI), and functionally diverse strip swards (ST), with (SW) or without (CO) a seaweed bio-stimulant. Ninety pregnant ewes were stratified by live weight and allocated across six treatment groups (15 ewes per treatment). Lambing occurred on treatment paddocks. At weaning, 90 lambs (15 per treatment) were selected based on body weight and sex balance to continue through to finishing. Pasture chemical composition differed among treatments: ST had lower fibre (neutral detergent fibre, NDF; acid detergent fibre, ADF) than RW and DI, while SW increased dry matter digestibility (DMD) and metabolisable energy (ME), and reduced NDF and ADF ( p < 0.05). Strip pastures improved lamb average daily gain (ADG) by 17% from lambing to weaning compared to DI, and by 14% from weaning to finishing compared to RW ( p < 0.05). Seaweed bio-stimulant treatment enhanced lamb ADG by up to 12% and improved carcass traits, including loin and shoulder yields ( p < 0.05). Ewes and lambs on seaweed-treated pastures exhibited lower serum non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations ( p < 0.05), indicating better energy balance. Milk from ST and/or SW treated ewes had elevated omega-6 fatty acids and essential amino acids, suggesting enhanced nutritional value. These findings demonstrate that combining botanical diversity with natural bio-stimulants can improve animal growth, metabolic health, and product quality, offering a promising strategy for sustainable and welfare-oriented sheep production systems.

Keywords: sheep productivity; agroecological grazing; bioactive soil amendments; metabolic profile; milk amino acids; sustainable agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/16/1764/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/16/1764/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:16:p:1764-:d:1726375

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().