The effect of level of feeding on acetate tolerance in the sheep

Abstract

Intravenous acetate tolerance tests were conducted on sheep offered chopped lucerne hay at six levels of intake, a ground and pelleted mixture of lucerne hay, maize, and peanut meal at two levels, and a low quality roughage ad libitum.

The rate of disappearance of acetate injected intravenously increased with increase in the levels of both feed intake and digestible energy intake. There was no difference between diets in the rate of disappearance when the diets provided similar amounts of digestible energy. Changes in rate of disappearance occurred within 7 days of changes in level of feeding.

It was concluded that care should be exercised in interpreting differences between diets in acetate tolerance when the diets provide widely differing quantities of digestible energy.