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A 17-yr grazing trial was conducted in the eastern Galilee of Israel to quantify trade-offs among the responses of pasture and livestock productivity, duration of grazing, amount of supplementary feed, and profitability to higher stocking density during the growing season of a Mediterranean grassland. Treatments included two stocking densities and two grazing protocols. The stocking densities throughout the grazing period were 0.55 animal unit (AU)·ha-1, which is common in this region, and 1.1 AU·ha-1, which is considered high. The grazing protocols were continuous grazing throughout the grazing season and split-paddock grazing in which the herd grazed one subpaddock from the onset of grazing until the pasture was depleted, after which the herd was moved to the second ungrazed subpaddock. Under both protocols, heavier stocking density reduced standing biomass of the whole paddock at the end of the growing season by 43% and grazing duration during the subsequent dry season by 38% but increased the daily consumption of supplementary feed and the weaned live-weight production per unit area. Under continuous grazing the high stocking density of 1.1 AU·ha-1 was maintained throughout the grazing season for 17 consecutive yr with no detectable effect on productivity of the pasture, typical to the resilience of Mediterranean grasslands that have been grazed for thousands of years. The lower pasture biomass production was compensated by higher weaned calf production. At the current local prices, the heavier stocking density was close to the economically optimal stocking density for the pasture in the region. It is concluded that on Mediterranean grassland intensive use of the pasture with high stocking density during the growing season can be economically feasible in those cases where the feed requirement of the herd can be maintained throughout the growing season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Herbivores form preferences for substances that raise fitness such as nutritious foods and avoid those substances, which lower fitness such as plant secondary compounds (PSC). Nevertheless, some PSC at certain concentrations have the potential to raise fitness as they act against infective diseases such as parasitism. The objective of the present review is to assess whether parasitized farm animals are able to manifest self-medicative behaviors. The ability of herbivores to self-select these medicinal plant compounds emerges from the inherent adaptive nature of behavioral responses in living organisms. In order to manifest self-medication animals should experience discomfort caused by a certain illness and also relief associated with the mitigation of sickness brought about by the ingestion of a medicinal plant. Observational and controlled studies suggest such conditions, as well as self-medicative behaviors occur not only in wild but also in domestic herbivores. Self-medicative behaviors may allow individuals seek medicinal plant products when infected by parasites, even at times when the manager is not aware of the existence of parasitism in the flock. Self-medication may also allow for proper nutrition as animals offered choices will consume PSC-containing plants as well as nutritious and safe forages. Management programs should be geared at enhancing in herbivores the likelihood of the association medicine-relief from sickness and at favoring the transmission of self-medicative behavior across generations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The ability to distinguish among diets fed to Damascus goats using excitation–emission luminescence spectra was investigated. These diets consisted of Medicago sativa L. (alfalfa), Trifolium spp. (clover), Pistacia lentiscus, Phyllirea latifolia and Pinus brutia. The three-dimensional luminescence response surface from phosphate buffered saline (PBS) extracts of each material was analyzed using muti-way analysis chemometric tools (MPCA) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Using three principal components, the spectra from each diet material were distinguished. Additionally, fecal samples from goats fed diets of either alfalfa or clover hays were investigated. The application of MPCA and PARAFAC to these samples using models derived from the pre-digested diet materials was strongly suggestive of the utility of similarly derive training samples for the elucidation of botanical diet composition for animals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]