Dissemination of Pasture Plants by Livestocks : I. Recovery and viability of some pasture plant seeds passed through digestive tract of goats

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  • 家畜の排糞による牧草播種 : 第1報 山羊糞による牧草種子の排出と発芽
  • 家畜の排糞による牧草播種-1-山羊糞による牧草種子の排出と発芽
  • カチク ノ ハイフン ニ ヨル ボクソウ ハシュ 1 ヤギ フン ニ ヨル ボクソウ シュシ ノ ハイシュツ ト ハツガ

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Abstract

<p>In Japan, simple and effective methods are urgently needed not only to improve glasslands with steep slopes, characteristic to her extensive mountainous areas, but to renovate improved grasslands for maintaining their productivity which tends to decrease within a few years after establishment mainly due to unfavorable climatic conditions. The dissemination of pasture plants by using livestocks was suggested to answer this need because authors sometimes observed clover seedlings on the surface of livestock feces in some pastures, and also because of some results of experiments already reported. The present studies were undertaken with these background. In this first report, the results of experiments were presented on the recovery and viability of the seeds of ladino clover (LC), sub clover (SC), orchardgrass (OG), and Italian ryegrass (IRG) passed through the digestive tract of goat. One gram seeds of each four species enclosed separately in a silk bag were soaked in goat rumen through a fistula on May 24, 1966. After soaking for 8, 24, 48, and 72 hours, the seeds were washed, and classified into two groups, normal and destroyed seeds. Normal seeds were tested of their germination under room temperature. Ten gram seeds of each species were mixed with 400g of concentrate feed and fed to each one of two goats which were placed in separate digestion apparatus on June 20. The goats consumed thoroughly the mixture. Feces were collected and weighed 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours after feeding, respectively. Seeds recovered in feces were counted in 50g feces sampled from each collection, and then tested of their germination under room temperature. Fifty dung-pellets sampled from each collection were pressed on the sterilized soil in each pot whose area was 1/5, 000a, with two replications. Number of seedlings from the seeds recovered was recorded for the period from late June to early November. One more germination test was carried out early September to clarify the effect of goat-body temperature on the germination of seeds passing through the digestive tract. The seeds laid on moist paper in peri-dishes were incubated under 38℃ for 0, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours, respectively, and then tested of their germination under room temperature. By the retention in goat rumen, the grass seeds were little affected in outward appearance. The clover seeds, in contrast, became destroyed except hard seeds as the time elapsed, as was shown in Fig.1 and Tables 1 and 2. This means that seeds were physiologically affected by soaking in rumen even though they were undestroyed in appearance. Most of ungerminated seeds might become impermeable, dormant, or quiescent. Number of seeds fed to goat and that recovered in feces were given in Table 3. First recovery was observed in the feces defecated for 6-12 hours after feeding in clovers, and for 12-24 hours in grasses. Maximum recevery occurred in the feces defecated for 24-48 hours after feeding. Although the date of last recovery differed a little among species, almost all seeds were recovered within 96 hours after feeding. Total recovery was highest in ladino clover (28%), lowest in orhardgrass (0.6%), and intermediated in sub clover (8%) and Italian ryegrass (7%). Such general trends were similar to the results reported by BURTON and ANDREWS, and by SUCKLING, though they merely determined first recovery on the first day after feeding. Here occurs a question why grass seeds were highly digested by passage through the digestive tract while they were little digested by soacking in rumen. Probably grass seeds were more strongly affected by browsing, etc. in digestion than clover seeds mainly due to the structural difference of seeds cover, glum vs. seed-coat. Average percentage of germination of seeds recovered was highest in Italian ryegrass (36%), followed by orchardgrass (31%), and sub clover (15%), and lowest percentage was obtained in ladino c</p><p>(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)</p>

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