The Effect of Supplementation of Mediterranean Browse Species on Nutritive Properties of Sheep Diets and Predicting these Properties from Faecal Analyses

Abstract

The research investigated the nutritive value and inclusion levels of tagasaste, saligna and river saltbush for sheep fed roughage-based diets. Calibration equations derived from faecal fibre, lignin, ash and nitrogen contents could predict digestibility, short chain fatty acid production and energy content of sheep diets containing these browse species. Potential of faecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy calibrations for predicting the protein, tannin, protein precipitation capacity of tannin and phosphorus contents of sheep diets was confirmed.