 | Abstract 326Voluntary intake and in vivo digestibility by sheep of five lines of Cenchrus ciliaris selected on the basis of preference rating.Minson,-DJ; Bray,-RA Div. of Tropical Crops and Pastures, CSIRO, St. Lucia, Qld. 4067, Australia. Grass-and-Forage-Science. 1986, 41: 1, 47-52; 16 ref. 5 lines of C. ciliaris were grown as swards, cut at 6 growth stages and the herbage dried, chopped and offered to penned sheep. Preference by cattle for these grasses grown in small rows was highest for line 31, lowest for lines 30 and 36 and intermediate for lines 10 and 23. Mean daily intake by the sheep was 57.6 g/kg LW-0.75 for line 30, 56.1 g for line 10, 54.3 g for line 31, 48.6 g for line 36 and 48.5 g for line 23. Differences in intake were positively correlated (r = 0.97) with the proportion of leaf. Lines 23 and 36 had the highest proportion of seed head. Lines 10 and 30 had the lowest digestibility. This abstract relates to the following species: |