Behavior And Energy Expenditure Of Tibetan Sheep During Grazing In Alpine Meadow

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the most unique grazing ecology system in the world, Tibetan sheep plays an important role in the Alpine Meadow in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. On one hand, Tibetan sheep is the life and production material of the farmer, on the other hand, it maintain the health of Qinghai-Tibet plateau ecosystem. So we studied the grazing behavior and energy expenditure in the rotational grazing system in Maqu conty in the northeast of Qinghai-Tibet plateau in 2010 and 2011 in order to clarify the effect of different stocking rate and season, We want to provide basis ofr decision-making for the sustainable management system of Tibetan sheep.Main results were gained as following:1. Effect of stocking rate on grazing behavior and energy expenditure(1) The daily change of intaking rate of 8 sheep/hm2 (L)was the same to 16 sheep/hm (H), it was lowest in the beginning of grazing and highest at the end grazing. Intaking rate increased from morning to afternoon except the cold season in 2010. The intaking rate of Lwas lower than H all day. Both L and H have the same daily change of foraging rate and bite per step. The intaking rate of Lwas lower than H all day. Daily change of foraging rate of L was higher than H except the warm season in 2011. Daily change of bite per step of H was higher than L. With the stocking rate increase, intaking rate increased significantly(P<0.05), forageing rate decreased except the cold season in 2010, which decreased significantly(P< 0.05) in warm season in 2010 and the cold season in 2011. With the stocking rate increase, daily bite and bite per step increased significantly(P<0.05), the daily intake and intake per bite decreased significantly(P<0.05) too.(2) With the stocking rate increased, total ruminating food bolus decreased significantly(P<0.05), ruminating rate (bolus/h) increased significantly(P <0.05), the Chewing times per food bolus, chewing rate, interval time between ruminating food bolus decreased.(3) With the stocking rate increased, energy expenditure of intaking, daily and energy expenditure per hour increased significantly(P<0.05).(4) With the stocking rate increased, ingesting time increased significantly(P< 0.05), to the opposite, ruminating time decreased significantly(P<0.05).2. Effect of season on grazing behavior and energy expenditure(1) From warm season to cold season, intaking rate, foraging rate, daily bite and daily step decreased significantly(P<0.05), to the opposite, bite per step increased significantly(P<0.05)., daily intake decreased significantly(P <0.05) and intake per bite increased significantly.(2) From warm season to cold season, total ruminating food bolus and ruminating rate decreased significantly(P<0.05), Chewing times per food bolus and chewing rate increased significantly(P<0.05).(3) From warm season to cold season, energy expenditure of intaking and walking and daily energy expenditure decreased significantly(P<0.05), but energy expenditure per hour increased significantly(P<0.05).(4) From warm season to cold season, intaking time and ruminating time decreased, but the ratio of intaking time to daily grazing time increased.In general, grazing behavior of Tibetan sheep was influenced by the stocking rate and season. With the stocking rate increased, The Tibetan sheep ensured the daily intake first through increasing the ingesting time, intaking rate, bite per step and decreasing foraging rate. In warm season, the ingesting behavior of Tibetan sheep alternating rumination, the ruminating behavior happened after eating satisfied. In cold season, the sheep decreased ruminating time to ensure enough ingesting time. Based on the result of this study, it easy to watch the index such as ingestion/rumination, intaking rate, foraging rate and energy expenditure per hour, and it was accurate in a certain degree, so if we do enough scientific and systemic research on these index, it could be the quantitative index to manage the grazing eco-system.