Table 3.
Chemical composition of the monotonous diet (perennial ryegrass only, SF) and the calculated chemical composition of a taxonomically diverse MF diet of equal proportions of fresh cut herbage of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), and plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) offered to the ram lambs
| Treatment diet | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item1 | SF | MF | SEM | P-value2 |
| ME, MJ/kg DM | 11.0 | 10.8 | 0.1 | 0.04 |
| DM, % DM | 19.7 | 18.5 | 0.2 | <0.01 |
| DMDp, % DM | 73.3 | 71.5 | 0.6 | <0.01 |
| OM, % DM | 90.6 | 90.1 | 0.2 | <0.01 |
| OMD, % DM | 76.9 | 74.4 | 0.7 | <0.01 |
| WSC, % DM | 7.9 | 11.8 | 0.3 | <0.01 |
| NDF, % DM | 49.5 | 35.9 | 0.6 | <0.01 |
| ADF, % DM | 26.1 | 26.7 | 0.4 | 0.17 |
| CP, % DM | 24.7 | 21.1 | 0.1 | <0.01 |
1Values for diverse diet chemical composition were calculated by using the percentage of the Item value that each dietary component accounted for.
2t-test P-value.