Abstract
The nutrition of free-ranging bison (Bison bison), domestic horses (Equus caballus), and camels (Camelus bactrianus) were investigated from their joint grazing on a forb-grass steppe pasture. The species composition of consumed plants, selectivity of food plants, and digestibility of plant forage were assessed. Species of the plants consumed and their share in the diet have been determined using microhistological analysis of feces. The plant food selectivity (FS) was estimated by the ratio of the share of plant species in the diet of animals to their portion in the plant community of the pasture. The digestibility is calculated by the ratio of inert (undigested) components (silicon, lignin) in the diet and feces. In summer (June), these characteristics were similar for horses and bison. Both species are typical animals consuming gramineous plants: the share of these plants in their diet is 81–83%, their selectivity of graminoids is equal (1.4), and the digestibility of food is similar (49–51%). Camels differed from bison and horses by all food characteristics: forbs (mainly ruderal annual Bassia sedoides (43%) and Atriplex tatarica (20%)) predominated at 86%; graminoids amounted to 14%. The food selectivity coefficient (FS) for forbs was 2.1, including 7.7 and 2.9 for Bassia and Atriplex, respectively. The digestibility coefficient (60%) was much higher for camels in comparison with bison and horses. Under joint grazing, species with different forage selectivity (horse–camel or bison–camel) affect the plant community of a pasture evenly and preserve its species diversity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abaturov, B.D., Fekadu Kassaye, Kuznetsov, G.V., Magomedov, M.-R.D., and Petelin, D.A., Nutritional estimate of populations of some wild free-ranging African ungulates in grassland (Nechisar national park, Ethiopia) in dry season, Ecography, 1995, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 64–172.
Abaturov, B.D., Kuznetsov, G.V., Magomedov, M.-R.D., Petelin, D.A., and Fekadu Kassaie, Estimation of food availability for wild ungulates in a dry season on the mountain pastures of Ethiopia, Zool. Zh., 1996, vol. 75, no. 3, pp. 439–450.
Abaturov, B.D., Kolesnikov, M.P., Nikonova, O.A., and Pozdnyakova, M.K., Experience of quantitative assessment of free-ranging mammals in their natural environment, Zool. Zh., 2003, vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 104–114.
Abdykalikova, B.K., Influence of different level of feeding of female camels in grazing period on their milk production, in Verblyudovodstvo v Kazakhstane (Camel Breeding in Kazakhstan), Almaty, 1995, pp. 57–61.
Arasimovich, V.V. and Ermakov, A.I., Determination of polysaccharides and lignin, in Metody biokhimicheskogo issledovaniya rastenii (Methods of Biochemical Research of Plants), Leningrad: Agropromizdat, 1987, pp. 1–43.
Clauss, M., Digestive physiology and feeding behaviour of equids—a comparative approach, in Horse Health Nutrition, European Equine Health & Nutrition Congress, Gent, Belgium, 2013, pp. 25–33.
Clauss, M., Kaiser, T., and Hummel, J., The morphophysiological adaptations of browsing and grazing mammals, in The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing, Gordon, I.J. and Prins, H.H.T., Eds., Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2008, pp. 47–88.
Coppedge, B.R., Leslie, D.M., Jr., and Shaw, Ja.H., Botanical composition of bison diets on tallgrass prairie in Oklahoma, J. Range Manag., 1998, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 379–382.
Dmitriev, I.A., Rozenfel’d, S.B., and Abaturov, B.D., Characteristics of the use of steppe pastures of eastern Mongolia by wild and domestic large herbivorous mammals, Arid. Ekosist., 2009, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 52–68.
Duncan, P., Foose, T.J., Gordon, I.J., Gakahu, C.G., and Lloyd, M., Comparative nutrient extraction from forages by grazing bovids and equids: a test of the nutritional model of equid/bovid competition and coexistence, Oecologia, 1990, vol. 84, pp. 411–418.
Ely, R.E., Kane, E.A., Jacobson, W.C., and Moore, L.A., Studies on the composition of lignin isolated from orchard grass hay cut at stages of maturity and from corresponding feces, J. Dairy Sci., 1953, vol. 36, pp. 346–355.
Fortin, D., Fryxell, J.M., and Pilot, R., The temporal scale of foraging decisions in bison, Ecology, 2002, vol. 83, pp. 970–982.
Hawley, A.W.L., Peden, D.G., Reynolds, H.W., and Stricklin, W.R., Bison and cattle digestion of forages from the Slave River Lowlands, Northwest Territories, Canada, J. Range Manage., 1981, vol. 34, pp. 126–130.
Hofmann, R.R., Evolutionary steps of ecophysiological adaptation and diversification of ruminants: a comparative view of their digestive system, Oecologia, 1989, vol. 78, pp. 443–457.
Hofmann, R.R., Die wiederkäuer, Biologie in Unserer Zeit., 1991, vol. 21, pp. 73–80.
Holechek, J.L., Comparative contribution of grasses, forbs, and shrubs to the nutrition of range ungulates, Rangelands, 1984, vol. 6, pp. 261–263.
Instruktsiya dlya zonal’nykh agrokhimicheskikh laboratorii po analizu kormov i rastenii (Instructions for Zonal Agrochemical Laboratories for Feed and Plant Analysis), Moscow: Kolos, 1968.
Kaz’min, V.D., Demina, O.N., Pozdnyakova, M.K., Rozenfel’d, S.B., and Abaturov, B.D., Current status of plant food resources and food selectivity of a wild-ranging horse (Equus caballus) on Stepnoi Island (Manych-Gudilo Lake), Zool. Zh., 2013, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 231–237.
Kaz’min, V.D., Pozdnyakova, M.K., Kolesnikov, M.P., and Abaturov, B.D., Quantitative characterization of the nutrition of the free-living horse (Equus caballus) on Vodnyi Island (Manych-Gudilo Lake), Biol. Bull. (Moscow), 2013a, vol. 40, no. 8, pp. 684–691.
Kaz’min, V.D., Nemeev, S.V., Nemeeva, I.A., and Shamonina, I.V., Daily rates of nutrition of semi-wild bison in a steppe habitat (protected zone of the Rostov Reserve), in Materialy 5-i Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. “Sokhranenie raznoobraziya zhivotnykh i okhotnich’e khozyaistvo Rossii” (Proceedings of the 5th Int. Sci.-Pract. Conf. “Conservation of the Diversity of Animals and Wildlife Service of Russia”), Moscow: Mosk. Gor. Obshch. Okhotnikov i Rybolovov, 2013b, pp. 264–266.
Kolesnikov, M.P and Abaturov, B.D., Forms of silicon in plant material and their quantitative determination, Usp. Sovrem. Biol., 1997, vol. 117, no. 5, pp. 534–548.
Kolesnikov, M.P., Forms of silicon in plants, Usp. Biol. Khim., 2001, vol. 41, pp. 301–332.
Larin, I.V., Agagabyan, Sh.M., Rabotnov, T.A., Lyubskaya, A.F., Larina, V.K., et al., Kormovye rasteniya senokosov i pastbishch SSSR (Fodder Plants of Hayfields and Pastures of the USSR), Moscow: Gos. Izd. Sel’skokhoz. Liter., 1950, vol. 1.
Latter, N.C. and Gates, C.C., Diet and habitat selection of wood bison in relation to seasonal change in forage quantity and quality, Can. J. Zool., 1991, vol. 69, pp. 2677–2685.
Massey, F.P., Ennos, A.R., and Hartley, S.E., Grasses and the resource availability hypothesis: the importance of silica- based defenses, J. Ecol., 2007, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 414–424.
McNaughton, S.J. and Banyikwa, F.F., Plant communities and herbivory, in Serengeti: Research, Management, and Conservation of an Ecosystem, Sinclair, A.R.E. and Arcese, P., Eds., Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 1995, pp. 49–70.
McNaughton, S.J., Tarrants, J.L., McNaughton, M.M., and Davis, R.H., Silica as a defense against herbivory and a growth promoter in African grasses, Ecology, 1985, vol. 66, pp. 528–535.
Menard, C., Duncan, P., Fleurance, G., Georges, J.-Y., and Lila, M., Comparative foraging and nutrition of horses and cattle in European wetlands, J. Appl. Ecol., 2002, vol. 39, pp. 120–133.
Odadi, W.O., Jain, M., Van Wieren, S.E., Prins, H.H.T., and Rubenstein, D.I., Facilitation between bovids and equids on an African savanna, Evol. Ecol. Res., 2011, vol. 13, pp. 237–252.
Peden, D.G., Van Dyne, G.M., Rice, R.W., and Hansen, R.M., The trophic ecology of Bison bison L. on shortgrass plains, J. Appl. Ecol., 1974, vol. 11, pp. 489–497.
Pekka, H., Food composition and feeding habits of the roe deer in winter in central Finland, Acta Theriologica, 1980, vol. 25, pp. 395–402.
Pozdnyakova, M.K., Zharkikh, T.L., Yasinetskaya, N.I., and Kolesnikov, M.P., Quantitative assessment of feeding in a free-ranging group of przewalski horses, Equus przewalskii, in a steppe habitat (the Askania Nova Biosphere Reserve), Biol. Bull., 2011, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 726–734.
Reynolds, H.W., Bison diets of Slave River lowlands, Canada, M.Sc. Thesis, Fort Collins: Colorado State University, 1976.
Richmond, R.J., Hudson, R.J., and Christopherson, R.J., Comparison of forage intake and digestibility by American bison, yak and cattle, Acta Theriologica, 1977, vol. 22, no. 14, pp. 225–230.
Rozenfel’d, S.B., Atlas mikrofotografii kutikulyarnoi struktury epidermisa kormovykh rastenii pozvonochnykh fitofagov tundrovoi i stepnoi zon Evrazii (Atlas of Photomicrographs of the Cuticular Structure of the Epidermis of Fodder Plants of Vertebrate Herbivores of the Tundra and Steppe Zones of Eurasia), Moscow: Tovar. Nauch. Izd. KMK, 2011 (CDdisk).
Rozenfel’d, S.B. and Larionov, K.O., The use of cuticular coprological analysis in the studies of the composition of feed of ungulates in Kalmykia and Mongolia, in Aktual’nye problemy ekologii i evolyutsii v issledovaniyakh molodykh uchenykh (Actual Problems of Ecology and Evolution in the Research of Young Scientists), Moscow: Tovar. Nauch. Izd. KMK, 2006, pp. 117–141.
Ruchkina, G.A. and Vakhitova, R.Z., Verblyudovodstvo (Camel Breeding), Kostanai: TOO Kostanaipoligrafiya, 2008.
Salter, R.E. and Hudson, R.J., Feeding ecology of feral horses in western Alberta, J. Range Manag., 1979, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 221–225.
Skopin, A.E., Znachenie komponentov kachestvennogo sostava kormovykh rastenii dikikh zhivotnykh (The Value of Components of the Qualitative Composition of Fodder Plants of Wild Animals), Kirov: VNIIOZ RASKhN, 2003.
Steuter, A. and Hidinger, L., Comparative ecology of bison and cattle on mixed-grass prairie, Great Plains Research: J. Nat. Soc. Sci., Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1999, vol. 9, pp. 329–342.
Stewart, D.R.M., Analysis of plant epidermis in faeces: a technique for studying the food preferences of grazing herbivores, J. Appl. Ecol., 1967, vol. 4, pp. 83–111.
Streeter, Ch.L., A review of techniques used to estimate the in vivo digestibility of grazed forage, J. Anim. Sci., 1969, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 757–768.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © B.D. Abaturov, V.D. Kazmin, M.P. Kolesnikov, 2015, published in Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 2015, Vol. 94, No. 12, pp. 1470–1478.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abaturov, B.D., Kazmin, V.D. & Kolesnikov, M.P. Nutrition of bison (Bison bison), camels (Сamelus bactrianus), and horses (Equus caballus) from their joint grazing on an isolated steppe pasture. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 43, 918–925 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359016080021
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359016080021