Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Evaluation of microhistological analysis for determining ruminant diet botanical composition
Author
Alipayo, D.
Valdez, R.
Holechek, J. L.
Cardenas, M.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1992-03-01
Body

The accuracy of microhistological techniques for analysis of herbivore diets was evaluated with cattle, sheep, and Angora goats fed grass, forb, and shrub mixtures of known botanical compositions. Two observers performed microhistological analyses on undigested diets as offered and on feces collected. Similarity indices and chi-square tests were used to determine if differences existed among actual diets, estimated diets, and fecal samples. Botanical compositions of diets fed to all 3 animal species generally were accurately estimated by fecal analyses. In some other studies, shrubs in ruminant diets have been inaccurately estimated by the microhistological technique. However, in our study, shrubs were accurately estimated with no differences between actual and observed compositions. We attribute this to the fact that shrub materials used in our study had a high proportion of current growth relative to woody materials. Woody plant parts had lower proportions of identifiable epidermal material than leaves and young stems. In grass-forb diets, forbs sometimes were overestimated and differentiation among grasses was difficult. However, in most cases, observers could precisely estimate diets of the 3 herbivore species. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. 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

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/4002773
Additional Information
Alipayo, D., Valdez, R., Holechek, J. L., & Cardenas, M. (1992). Evaluation of microhistological analysis for determining ruminant diet botanical composition. Journal of Range Management, 45(2), 148-152.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/644708
Journal Volume
45
Journal Number
2
Journal Pages
148-152
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
feces analysis
assessment
feces composition
shrubs
diets
sheep
goats
cattle
botanical composition
grasses
New Mexico
forage
feeding preferences