Amount and Quality of Chicory Herbage Ingested by Grazing Cattle

Abstract

Ingestive behavior of cattle (Bos taurus L.) grazing chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) has not been elucidated. Adult Angus cows were utilized to measure ingestive behavior over a range of allowances (2.53–5.17 kg cow−1 h−1) on vegetative chicory (cv. Grasslands Puna) growing on a Maury silt loam (fine, mixed, mesic, Typic Paleudalf) soil. A change‐over design employing difference procedures was used with tethered animals to evaluate allowance effects on forage quality of available, consumed and residual herbage as well as rate of biting and dry matter intake. Pre‐ and post‐grazing herbage mass and quality were determined in three 10‐cm strata above a 5‐cm stubble. Cattle consumed about 66% of the available herbage at each allowance level during a 1‐h grazing meal. In vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) ranged from 719 to 746 g kg−1 across the three canopy strata prior to and after grazing. Nitrogen concentration increased from 26 to 47 g kg−1 from the lower to upper canopy stratum. Herbage intake rate increased from 1.7 kg h−1 at the lowest allowance to 3.6 kg h‐~ at the highest, in response to a linear increase in intake per bite. Biting rate was unaffected by herbage allowance. High dry matter intake per feeding station and a relatively low number of feeding stations visited per meal suggest that chicory was not grazed in distinct horizons. Together with high intake rates, the high and uniform quality of chicory canopies indicate that this species could be useful for livestock having high nutrient and dry matter intake requirements.