Nutritional block compositon, consumption and preference in sheep

© 2001 Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. All rights reserved. Two trials, designed to test preference and consumption of four different nutritional blocks (NB), were carried out using four pelibuey and four merino sheep. The NB contained 1) S10B25M15,2) S50B0M0, 3) S20B30M0 and 4) S10B40M0. NB preference was determined by recording consumption times per animal/per block when given unrestricted access to all four NB. Consumption was evaluated using a random block model to measure daily consumption per sheep when each NB was offered individually. The trials were conducted at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, San Marcos University, in Lima, and lasted two months. In both trials, NB1 (S10B25M15) was the NB of choice with the highest preference and consumption rates. Analysis of variance confirmed this conclusion for both tests, while the DMS Fisher test only found statistical differences between NB1 and the other three NB. These data indicate that the combination of adequate resistance and inclusion of molasses in NB1 increased palatability and therefore preference and consumption. The high salt levels and excessive hardness of other blocks, which contained bentonite, resulted in lower preference and consumption.