Nutritive evaluation of some range plants species in the Western Mediterranean desert of Egypt | ||
| Catrina: The International Journal of Environmental Sciences | ||
| Article 3, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 19-28 PDF (1.43 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| Authors | ||
| Hassan EL-Kady; Mohamed El-Beheiry* ; Ahmed Abdel Wahab | ||
| Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The present study assesses the nutritive evaluation of some range plants species in the Western Mediterranean desert of Egypt to evaluate their usage as forage for domestic animals (mainly sheep and goats). Analysis of the plant organs which represent the diet selected by the herbivores indicated that their mean protein content is about 1.1 %. This is lower than the proper level, but it is ranked as acceptable protein content. The crude protein intake was about 46.4 g 100 kg live weight-1 day-1, which is inadequate for the protein needs of grazing animals .The amount of total digestible nutrients (TDN) was lower than the standard requirements of the sheep. The shortfall in forage nutrition may be attributed to the high stocking rate (animal density area-1). If the stocking rate is about seven times lower than the present value, most of the requirements of energy and protein could be fulfilled in the range. The ratio of Ca: P was higher than the optimum, which may lead to lower utilization of both Ca and P by animals. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| nutritive value; desert; total digestible nutrients; livestock; arid ecosystem | ||
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