Metologias usadas para a avaliação do comportamento ingestivo em pastagem e em confinamento

Abstract

Animals are studied and observed from prehistory by men who did this for various reasons feeding, defending, domesticating. Animal behavior is defined as a set of actions that can be done by an animal or not because even when standing it still expresses reaction. Ruminants are mammalian animals with herbivorous food habits, ie, they consume only plants, their digestive system consists of pre-stomachs: rumen, reticulum and omasum and the true stomach is called the abomasum. The feeding behavior is marked by a diurnal pattern of grazing, with the great peaks at dawn and dusk, and the ingestive behavior is characterized by a succession of defined periods, which are performed in a discrete and uneven form, known as ingestion, rumination and idleness. The study of this behavior is very important to adjust feeding management and to improve the productive performance of the herd. It is composed of grazing time, number of morsels, bit rate, bit depth, grazing profile and consumption. The objective of this work is to identify and describe the main methods used to evaluate the ingestive behavior of cattle during grazing and confinement. The methodologies involved in this study revolve around the observation that it is the action of seeing something or someone, used for the purpose of acquiring knowledge and information on a certain subject. The research methods are divided into 3 groups: observation, registration and sampling. The main activities analyzed and recorded are time for grazing, rumination, leisure and other activities.