. 2015 Dec 9;5:17915. doi: 10.1038/srep17915

Table 2. Voluntary intake and apparent DM digestibility relative to live weight for different breed types of sheep when zero-grazed on pastures of high (ryegrass), medium (permanent pasture) and low (Molinia) nutritional value.

Sward type	Breed type
Sward type	Welsh Mountain	Scottish Blackface	Welsh Mule	Texel	s.e.d.	F Prob.
Ryegrass
LW (kg)	45.8^a	61.5^b	70.9^c	77.6^d	2.29	<0.001
DMI (kg d⁻¹)	1.08^a	1.02^a	1.30^ab	1.55^b	0.102	<0.001
DMI (g kg⁻¹ MLW per day)	62^b	47^a	53^ab	60^b	4.7	<0.05
DMD (g g^-1)	0.816^a	0.857^b	0.806^a	0.812^a	0.0137	<0.01
DDMI (g kg⁻¹ MLW per day)	51	40	43	48	3.9	ns
Permanent pasture
LW (kg)	41.3^a	57.9^b	63.9^bc	67.6^c	2.65	<0.001
DMI (kg d⁻¹)	0.76	0.77	0.86	1.03	0.109	ns
DMI (g kg⁻¹ MLW per day)	45	35	37	44	5.0	ns
DMD (g g^-1)	0.794^bc	0.803^c	0.763^ab	0.755^a	0.0134	<0.01
DDMI (g kg⁻¹ MLW per day)	37	29	29	33	3.7	ns
Molinia
LW (kg)	40^a	53^b	69^c	69^c	2.4	<0.001
DMI (kg d⁻¹)	0.66^a	0.89^ab	1.03^b	0.95^b	0.084	<0.01
DMI (g kg⁻¹ MLW per day)	41	45	43	40	3.8	ns
DMD (g g^-1)	0.577	0.571	0.510	0.504	0.0342	ns
DDMI (g kg⁻¹ MLW per day)	24	26	23	21	2.6	ns

LW = live weight; DMI = dry matter intake; MLW = metabolic LW; DMD = dry matter digestibility; and DDMI = digestible DMI. Values in rows with different letter superscripts differed significantly (P < 0.05).