Seasonal variation in intake and digestion of a high-roughage diet by muskoxen

Abstract

We studied changes in body weight, intake, retention time and apparent digestibility of a supplemented brome-alfalfa hay by mature muskoxen held near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan during two seasonal cycles. Body weights and voluntary intake were monitored during 16 trials from late March 1990 to December 1991, in four annually breeding females and in three hysterectomized females. Retention time of the hay and apparent digestibility of the diet were estimated in winter and summer 1991 from fecal excretion of chromium (Cr) after a pulse dose of Cr-mordanted hay, and from forage/fecal concentrations of chromic oxide, respectively, in six non-breeding muskoxen. Mean (±SE) body weights of breeding females were greatest in February and March (248 ± 5 kg) and lowest following calving in late May or early June (216 ± 6 kg), while mean weight of hysterectomized females declined little from a peak of 228 ± 21 kg in February-March to a low of 213 ± 21 kg in July. Mean dry matter intake of breeding females was highest in July and August (62 ± 3.6 g d−1 kg−0.75) then declined slowly to its lowest point in March and April (41 ± 0.7 g d−1 kg−0.75). Dry matter intake of hysterectomized cows was less clearly seasonal but averaged 42 ± 1.7 g d−1 kg−0.75 in late winter and 50 ± 4.9 g d−1 kg−0.75 in mid-summer. Mean retention time of hay, calculated using a noncompartmental model, declined significantly from 114 ± 4 h in March to 95 ± 4 h in July. Apparent organic matter digestibility decreased significantly from 73.8 ± 0.8% in winter to 61.7 ± 1.3% in summer. Compared with other ruminants, muskoxen are grazers exceptionally well-suited to digesting graminoid forage, with relatively low maintenance requirements and prolonged retention times. Most of the seasonal changes in weight and intake of breeding females could be ascribed to reproductive cost, but there also appeared to be seasonal effects on intake, retention time and body weight in non-breeding muskoxen. Key words: Digestibility, intake, maintenance requirements, muskoxen, retention time, seasonal variation