INTAKE, BY SHEEP, AND DIGESTIBILITY OF CHICKWEED, DANDELION, DOCK, RIBWORT AND SPURREY, COMPARED WITH PERENNIAL RYEGRASS

Six plant species were compared as food for sheep: chickweed (Stellaria media (L.) Vill.), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber), dock (Rumex obtusifolius L.), ribwort (Plantago lanceolata L.), spurrey (Spergula arvensis L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). In two experiments at Aberystwyth in 1985 and 1986, the species were fed to lambs as the total diet, after artificial drying. In another experiment in 1987, they were fed fresh, in 1.5 minute meals, to yearling sheep. The dicotyledonous species had a lower proportion of cell wall (neutral detergent fibre) in dry matter than perennial ryegrass. The true dry matter digestibility of chickweed, dandelion, dock and leafy ribwort was as high as that of ryegrass, but the in vivo digestibility of all five dicotyledonous species was lower than that of ryegrass. The voluntary intake of the dicotyledonous species was higher than might have been predicted from their digestibility. The voluntary intake of spurrey was > 20 % higher than that of ryegrass. When the species were fed fresh, spurrey had the highest rate of intake as a consequence of a high chewing rate and a low requirement for number of chews/g of dry matter consumed. Chewing rate was higher on all the dicotyledonous diets than on ryegrass. The rate of intake of dandelion was above average, but that of dock was low and variable, particularly when the plants had been chopped.