Record Details

Feeding and working strategies for oxen used for draft purposes in semi-arid West Africa

CGSpace Test

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Feeding and working strategies for oxen used for draft purposes in semi-arid West Africa
 
Creator Fall, Abdou
Pearson, R.A.
Lawrence, P.R.
Fernández Rivera, S.
 
Subject BULLOCKS
FEEDING SYSTEMS
DRAUGHT ANIMALS
WORKING ANIMALS
SEMIARID ZONES
ENERGY VALUE
FEED INTAKE
DIGESTION
WEIGHT LOSSES
SOIL CHEMICOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES
 
Description This study was conducted to determine the energy expenditure of draft oxen working on sandy soils, performing common agricultural tasks, so that energy requirements could be determined; to establish the relationships between work and intake and digestibility of roughages by draft oxen; to investigate the effect of body condition before work and liveweight losses during work on work performance, and to investigate the implications of heat stress on draft oxen in semi-arid areas. This information will allow informed decisions to be made on the feeding and management of draft animals in semi-arid areas. Four experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 investigated the energy costs of walking on soils of different consistencies and the efficiencies of doing work. Experiment 2 and 3 were designed to establish the effect of work on intake, digestibility and rate of passage of feeds (millet stover) in the digestive tract. Experiment 4 looked at the effect of body condition before work and weight losses during work on work performance. The effect of heat stress was also investigated in experiment 2, 3 and 4. This report gives details of these experiments, the results obtained and, based on these, the recommendations made regarding feeding and working strategies for draft oxen in semi-arid areas.
 
Date 2010-12-09T11:07:49Z
2010-12-09T11:07:49Z
1997
 
Type Report
 
Identifier ISBN 92-9146-029-X
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/2710
 
Language en
 
Format application/pdf