Animal Unit Equivalent (AUE) and daily requirement energy for Torki Ghashghaei breed sheep grazing on rangelands of Fars Province

Information on animal requirements for rangeland grazing capacity is essential. Therefore, weight and animal unit equivalent (AUE) of each animal should be determined independently. In this research, live weight of Torki Ghasghaei breed sheep grazing on rangelands of Fars Province was determined. For this purpose, two herds of Torki breed were selected. In each herd, 15 three-year-old ewes, 15 four-year-old ewes, 5 three-year-old rams and 5 four-year-old rams were selected. They were weighted two times including; at the time of grazing season in lowland and highland rangelands. In addition, 10 three-month-old lambs and 10 six-month-old lambs were selected in highland rangelands. According to the results, theweight of Torki Ghasghaei breed sheep was 49.32 ± 0.69kg. Therefore, animal unit equivalent (AUE) for ewes, rams and lambs were 0.98, 1.55 and 0.48, respectively. According to MAFF equation, 1984, daily metabolism energy requirement for maintenance condition by considering condition of rangelands and distances from watering points and plant density in lowland and highland rangelands was calculatedto be 9.42 and 10.10Mj. Dry matter requirement based on forage quality in vegetation stage in lowland (1.77 Kg) and in flowering stage in highland (1.83 Kg) rangelands were similar. These results show that the time of grazing is effective on daily requirement and it is necessity to determine animal requirement based on forage quality.