Effects of duration of photoperiod on the rumination behavior of goats

Abstract Experiments on rumination behavior were conducted with adult female Saanen goats (BW 21.0 kg) to observe the effects of a single short (1 h; 23:00–24:00 h) or long (23 h; 00:00–23:00 h) photoperiod per day. The jaw movements of three goats tested were continuously recorded when they were housed in a cage with the continuous feeder to investigate the effects of duration of photoperiod on rumination behavior during both photoperiodic forms i.e. 1 h light vs. 23 h light per day. In the short photoperiod experiment the results showed that under these conditions, number of boli, ruminating time, number of mastications, masticating time, and resting time per hour differed ( P