A. Perevolotsky et al., NUTRITIONAL-VALUE OF COMMON OAK (QUERCUS-CALLIPRINOS) BROWSE AS FODDER FOR GOATS - EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS IN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, Small ruminant research, 11(2), 1993, pp. 95-106
Feed intake, in vivo digestibility, and nitrogen balance of common oak
(Quercus calliprinos) browse and vetch hay were determined in two tri
als using native Mamber black goats. Vetch hav served as a control tre
atment for evaluating the methodological accuracy of the experimental
system. Individual average intake was 63 and 94 g/day/kg (W0.75), orga
nic matter digestibility 46% and 61%, and the nitrogen balance (N rete
ntion as g/day/goat ) was -0.6 and 4.9 for oak and vetch hay, respecti
vely. Accordingly, Q. calliprinos, used as the sole feed for goats cou
ld supply the energy but not the protein requirements for maintenance.
Intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of the common oak were sim
ilar to values in studies of other oak species in the Mediterranean re
gion, but deviated from data in studies in the USA. Possible reasons f
or this difference, such as different content of secondary compounds s
uch as tannins, goat breed and duration of adaptive interactions betwe
en goats and plants, are discussed.