Title: Pattern of forage ingestion of sheep in native field with access to summer legume
Abstract: Abstract The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of access to perennial peanut ( Arachis pintoi ) pasture on patterns of forage intake and rumination of sheep in native field. The treatments were exclusive grazing in native field (NF) and grazing in native field with free access to perennial peanut pasture (NF+PP), using four test animals for each area, with offer adjusted to 12% of body weight. Rumination, grazing, and idle time were evaluated, beyond to forage ingestion and forage mericic chewing rates. Grazing time during the diurnal period did not have significant differences between the treatments, but a shorter grazing time was observed during the morning when the animals had access to perennial peanut. Grazing and rumination times were negatively correlated with idle time. In the NF+PP treatment, the animals dedicated 18.00% of the daytime period to rumination, while in the NF treatment it was 26.25% of the daytime. With access to forage legumes, there was a decrease in grazing time and an increase in the rumination time of sheep compared to animals kept exclusively in native fields with the same forage allowance. Animals kept in native field and native field with free access to perennial peanut have similar grazing times throughout the day, but with differences between shifts. The animals show preference for perennial peanut, grazing most of time in this area. The longer grazing time on forage peanuts reduces the rumination time of sheep.