Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/31000
Title: Sheep productivity in the tropics: finding the limits by a meta-analytic approach
Contributor(s): Silva, T A C C  (author)orcid ; Cowley, F C  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2021
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/31000
Abstract: Small ruminants are an important resource for improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers in tropical livestock systems. However, there is a lack of information in regards to the potential of meat productivity (i.e. kg of liveweight produced per area) of growing sheep in such systems, especially when grazing tropical pastures. The aim of this study was to describe the potential of these systems, and identify and quantify the impact of the main factors associated with the two components of meat productivity: average liveweight gain (LWG) per head and number of animals per area. This was achieved by conducting a meta-analysis of published data of post-weaning sheep growth during the wet-season in tropical climates. The empirical data from published studies were collated in a database with the following parameters: stocking rates, grazing method, fertilizer application, grazing time, pasture biomass, pasture species, pasture nutritive value, type of supplementation, level of supplementation, nutritive value of the supplement, animal genotype, sex, initial and final liveweight, liveweight gain and faecal egg count. For this analysis only grazing studies on growing animals which described stocking rate at LWG were selected. The dataset was coded following the recommendations provided by Sauvant et al. (2008) and weighted based on the number of observations. As there was interest in investigating the effects of these management strategies on meat productivity, data were categorised according to the level of nitrogen fertilization and the use or not of supplements. All analyses were performed by specifying a linear mixed effect regression model with study included as a random effect and candidate risk factors included as fixed effects. A backward-step model building process was adopted. The final model that only contained statistically significant main effect terms and, based on Akaike information criterion and conditional and marginal R2, considered to best fit the data was selected.
Publication Type: Conference Publication
Conference Details: AAAS 2021: 33rd Biennial Conference of the Australian Association of Animal Sciences, Fremantle, Australia, 1st - 3rd February, 2021
Source of Publication: Animal Production Science, 61(3), p. clxxxiii-clxxxiii
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Place of Publication: Australia
ISSN: 1836-5787
1836-0939
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 300303 Animal nutrition
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 100412 Sheep for meat
100405 Goats
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: E3 Extract of Scholarly Conference Publication
Publisher/associated links: https://doi.org/10.1071/ANv61n3abs
Description: Publication also known as Animal Production in Australia, volume 33
Appears in Collections:Conference Publication
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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