A metabolism study evaluated the influence of increasing quantities (0-30% dry matter basis) of mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana Rydb. Beetle) on dry matter intake and in vivo digestibility of wether diets. Diets consisted of hand-harvested, coarse-ground and frozen current year's growth of mountain big sagebrush leaves and twig tips mixed with chopped native grass hay. Dry matter intake decreased from 93 to 23 g dry matter day-1 kg metabolic weight-1 and in vivo dry matter digestibility from 59 to 0% with increasing levels of sagebrush in the diet. With increasing levels of sagebrush in the diet, water, lignin, and nitrogen contents increased in the diet, but decreased in the dung, while fiber components decreased in both the diet and dung. Total nitrogen intake decreased from 1.58+/-0.041 to 0.406+/-0.070 g day-1 kg metabolic weight-1, and nitrogen retention decreased from 0.80 g day-1 kg metabolic weight-1 with no sagebrush to a slight loss of nitrogen with 30% sagebrush in the diet. Mountain big sagebrush was not readily consumed by wethers when fed together with grass; as low as 10% sagebrush in the diet seems to adversely influence intake and digestibility. Therefore, when other more favorable forages are not available, sheep and other ruminants with similar physiological responses to mountain big sagebrush may not meet their nutrient requirements through increased sagebrush consumption. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.