Preference of the main spontaneous forage herbaceous natural pastures in central west Niger

This study on the feeding behavior of sheep carried out at the animal park of the Faculty of Agronomy of the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey made it possible to evaluate the preference of six spontaneous forage herbaceous plants in sheep. These are two legumes Alysicarpus ovalifolius and Zornia glochidiata and four grasses including Cenchrus biflorus, Panicum laetum, Pennisetum pedicellatum and Schizachyrium exile. These herbaceous plants were harvested at the stage of maturity in the natural pastures of Boboye (an agricultural area in western Niger). The animal material consists of 10 Fulani Bali-Bali rams aged 12 to 15 months. The study was conducted using the so-called “cafeteria” method. The mean voluntary ingestion was 566.67±147.49 g-1.d-1.animal-1 and varied depending on the herb and the periods. The highest preference index was that of Alysicarpus ovalifolius and the lowest that of Pennisetum pedicellatum. At the end of this study, three spontaneous forage herbaceous plants Alysicarpus ovalifolius, Zornia glochidiata and Schizachyrium exile were classified as the most palatable species and should be retained as coarse feed in sheep fattening rations and in seeding and stock restoration programs degraded natural pastures.