Variety of foods and flavors affects selection of foraging location by sheep

Our objective was to determine if variety of dietary flavors and ingredient s affected selection of foraging locations by sheep. We hypothesized lambs would forage in locations that offered a variety of flavors and/or nutritio nal characteristics and on foods that differed from their basal diet. We te sted this hypothesis in four trials. During Trial 1, lambs were fed a basal ration of alfalfa pellets (2.41 Mcal/kg DE, 18% CP), and then offered a te st diet that was a ground mixture of 58% barley, 20% alfalfa, 17% grape pom ace, 4% soybean meal, and 1% minerals (2.69 Mcal/kg DE and 14.7% CP). The t est diet was offered at two different locations, one that provided the diet with a variety of added flavors (apple, anise, unadulterated) and the othe r that provided the diet in only the most preferred flavor (apple or anise) . Procedures were the same during Trial 2, except the basal ration and the test diet were the same and different flavors were offered at the variety ( apple, anise, fresh forage) and monotony (fresh forage) locations. During T rial 1, when the test diet differed from the basal diet, variety of flavors did not affect foraging location (P > 0.05), but during Trial 2, when the basal diet was identical to the test diet, lambs preferred to forage where there was a variety of flavors (P < 0.05). During Trials 3 and 4, the test diet was offered in different flavors along with alfalfa pellets (Trial 3) or ground alfalfa (Trid 4) at the variety location, whereas the test diet w as offered in the preferred flavor at the monotony location. During Trial 3 , lambs spent more time at the variety location, and they ate more pellets than the ground test diet, even though the test diet had higher concentrati on of energy (P < 0.05), evidently because macro-nutrients consumed/unit ti me was greater for pellets than for the ground test diet. In Trial 4, lambs spent more time and ate more food where there was variety of foods and fla vors (P < 0.05), apparently because alfalfa and the test diet were compleme ntary in flavor and nutrition. Collectively, our results suggest lambs sele cted foraging locations based primarily on nutritional factors, but when nu trient content was constant, variety of flavors was important. (C) 1998 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.