Authors : S. Alvarez , P. Mendez , C. Diaz , H. Briggs and M. Fresno
Abstract: The diets of Canarian goats are severely deficient in the ratio of long fibre to concentrates; basically this is because the production of forage is very scarce in the Canary Isles. The present study was carried out to determine the nutritive value of 3 different kinds of forage adapted to arid and semi-arid conditions. The first was vinagrera (Rumex lunaria), an endemic shrub and the other 2, atriplex and barley (Atriplex halimus and Hordeum vulgare), are well known as forages adapted to arid land. The vinagrera had a high Crude Protein (CP) content (129 g kg 1 DM) with an acceptable intake (33 g kg 1 P0.75) and energy value (8.4 MJ ME) whilst Atriplex showed a high fibre content (352 g kg 1 DM), low intake (17 g kg 1 DM) and an energy value of 6.8 MJ ME. Barley hay had 8.2 MJ ME, this being an acceptable value for a cereal-hay.
S. Alvarez , P. Mendez , C. Diaz , H. Briggs and M. Fresno , 2008. Forage from the Canary Isles (Spain) Adapted to Arid Lands. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 7: 359-363.