The influence of concentrate-rich diet on daily sleep and lying postures of Japanese black cows.

Abstract

Sleep is one of the essential behaviors in mammalian health and welfare. In this study, we focused on how concentrate-rich diets (Conc) can influence the sleep of cattle. We hypothesized that Conc would suppress the daily sleep of cows because of behavioral frustration according to shorter eating and rumination. We subjected six Japanese black cows according to crossover experimental design. There were two diet treatments. In the Conc group, 70% of required TDN was supplied by concentrate and 30% by grass silage. On the other hand, in roughage fed group (Rough), all required TDN was supplied by grass silage. Maintenance behaviors, postures of cows, and sleep posture were measured by electronic devices. Cows fed with Conc spent less time in eating and rumination and spent more time in rest than Rough. However, contrary to our hypothesis, cows fed with Conc showed longer daily sleep posture duration (96.2min/day vs. 69.1min/day) and more frequent sleep posture bouts (15.4 times/day vs. 11.1 times/day) than Rough. We discussed about following possible explanations why cows fed with Conc slept longer as satisfaction, illness, displacement behavior, and shifting sleep posture.