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Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland

The Global Positioning System (GPS) and sensors technologies are increasingly used to study the grazing behavior of animals. This work was conducted to understand the grazing behavior and energy balance of goats browsing in forest rangeland using GPS and sensors technologies. Forage availability was...

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Autores principales: Chebli, Youssef, El Otmani, Samira, Hornick, Jean-Luc, Keli, Abdelhafid, Bindelle, Jérôme, Chentouf, Mouad, Cabaraux, Jean-François
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839820/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35161526
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22030781
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author Chebli, Youssef
El Otmani, Samira
Hornick, Jean-Luc
Keli, Abdelhafid
Bindelle, Jérôme
Chentouf, Mouad
Cabaraux, Jean-François
author_facet Chebli, Youssef
El Otmani, Samira
Hornick, Jean-Luc
Keli, Abdelhafid
Bindelle, Jérôme
Chentouf, Mouad
Cabaraux, Jean-François
author_sort Chebli, Youssef
collection PubMed
description The Global Positioning System (GPS) and sensors technologies are increasingly used to study the grazing behavior of animals. This work was conducted to understand the grazing behavior and energy balance of goats browsing in forest rangeland using GPS and sensors technologies. Forage availability was estimated using the quadrat method during three grazing seasons. Simultaneously, eight indigenous goats were selected to explore their feeding behavior, grazing activities, and energy requirements. The experimental goats were fitted with GPS collars and leg sensors to monitor their grazing activities. At the same time, direct observation was used as a method to study their feeding behavior. Forage availability was higher during spring compared to the summer and autumn seasons. Goats recorded the highest biting rate during summer and autumn (about 22 bites/min). The highest intake rate was recorded during spring (5.6 g DM/min). During spring, goats spent most of their time on grazing (48%) in contrast to the summer and autumn (<31%; p < 0.001). They prolonged their lying down time in summer at the expense of standing duration. The time devoted exclusively to grazing (eating) was longer in spring. Walking time in summer and autumn was longer than in spring (p < 0.001). During summer and autumn, the energy balance of goats under grazing conditions was in deficit. Using GPS collars and leg sensors appears to be a useful and easily replicable method to explore and understand the seasonal changes in the grazing areas and activities of goats in a mountainous region. The results could help goat herders and managers to develop feeding and grazing systems while increasing the performance of goats in the Mediterranean forest rangeland.
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spelling pubmed-88398202022-02-13 Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland Chebli, Youssef El Otmani, Samira Hornick, Jean-Luc Keli, Abdelhafid Bindelle, Jérôme Chentouf, Mouad Cabaraux, Jean-François Sensors (Basel) Article The Global Positioning System (GPS) and sensors technologies are increasingly used to study the grazing behavior of animals. This work was conducted to understand the grazing behavior and energy balance of goats browsing in forest rangeland using GPS and sensors technologies. Forage availability was estimated using the quadrat method during three grazing seasons. Simultaneously, eight indigenous goats were selected to explore their feeding behavior, grazing activities, and energy requirements. The experimental goats were fitted with GPS collars and leg sensors to monitor their grazing activities. At the same time, direct observation was used as a method to study their feeding behavior. Forage availability was higher during spring compared to the summer and autumn seasons. Goats recorded the highest biting rate during summer and autumn (about 22 bites/min). The highest intake rate was recorded during spring (5.6 g DM/min). During spring, goats spent most of their time on grazing (48%) in contrast to the summer and autumn (<31%; p < 0.001). They prolonged their lying down time in summer at the expense of standing duration. The time devoted exclusively to grazing (eating) was longer in spring. Walking time in summer and autumn was longer than in spring (p < 0.001). During summer and autumn, the energy balance of goats under grazing conditions was in deficit. Using GPS collars and leg sensors appears to be a useful and easily replicable method to explore and understand the seasonal changes in the grazing areas and activities of goats in a mountainous region. The results could help goat herders and managers to develop feeding and grazing systems while increasing the performance of goats in the Mediterranean forest rangeland. MDPI 2022-01-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8839820/ /pubmed/35161526 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22030781 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chebli, Youssef
El Otmani, Samira
Hornick, Jean-Luc
Keli, Abdelhafid
Bindelle, Jérôme
Chentouf, Mouad
Cabaraux, Jean-François
Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland
title Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland
title_full Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland
title_fullStr Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland
title_full_unstemmed Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland
title_short Using GPS Collars and Sensors to Investigate the Grazing Behavior and Energy Balance of Goats Browsing in a Mediterranean Forest Rangeland
title_sort using gps collars and sensors to investigate the grazing behavior and energy balance of goats browsing in a mediterranean forest rangeland
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839820/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35161526
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22030781
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