The feeding behavior of sheep fed with whole-plant corn silage harvested at different cutting heights treated with inoculants

The chemical and physical silage characteristics can change the animals' feeding behavior (FB). The aim was to evaluate the effects of cutting height (CH) and bacterial inoculation (BI) in whole-plant corn silage (WPCS) on the FB of sheep. A completely randomized design was used in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. The treatments were: WPCS harvested at 25 cm CH without (SI-25) and with (CI-25) BI (L. plantarum and P. acidipropionici), and at 40 cm CH without (SI-40) and with (CI-40) BI. Feeding (FT), rumination (RT), and idle (IDT) times were observed over 3 h throughout 48 h. The CH (p > 0.05) and BI (p > 0.05) affected the FB. The interaction CH x BI affected (p < 0.05) the FT and RT. The FT was higher at 08-11 h and 17-20 h and RT was relevant at night. The period affected (p < 0.05) the animals' IDT. Higher IDT was observed in the 17-20 h period compared to the others.