Effect of Dietary Types on Feed Intakes, Growth Performance and Economic Benefit in Tibetan sheep and Yaks on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during Cold Season

Tianwei Xu, Shixiao Xu, Linyong Hu, Na Zhao, Zhe Liu, Li Ma, Hongjin Liu and Xinquan Zhao

PLOS ONE, 2017, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Pastoralists on the Tibetan alpine rangeland suffered great economic loss in cold season, due to serious live-weight loss of domestic livestock under traditional grazing management. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary types (crude protein levels) on feed intakes, growth performance and economic returns of local Tibetan sheep and yaks during cold season. Twenty-four yearling Tibetan sheep (25.29±3.95 kg LW) and twenty two-year-old yaks (100.62±4.55 kg LW) with familiar body conditions were randomly assigned to four groups, fed oats hay (OH), oats silage (OS), total mixed ration (TMR) and traditionally grazed on the local cool-season pasture (TG), respectively, over a 135-day experiment. Daily dry matter intake was determined; all animals were weighed at the beginning and every 15 days of the 135-day experiment. Then, the total live-weight gain, average daily live-weight gain, gain rate, feed efficiency and net economic benefit were calculated. Results indicated that feed and nutrient intakes (DMI, DMI/kg LW, DMI/kg LW0.75 and CPI) of TMR, OH and OS were higher than TG (P 0.05). Results indicated that TMR was a reasonable diet in promoting feed intakes, animal performance, feed efficiency and economic returns in domestic livestock, which should be considered by local herdsmen to increase their breeding profit during cold season.

Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0169187

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169187

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