Abstract
To determine effect of time after feeding on distribution of digesta in the gastro-intestinal tracts of sheep given orchardgrass hay once a day, a total of fifteen ewes (mean live weight $51{\pm}12kg$) were slaughtered at 2, 8, 16 and 24 hours after feeding. Contents in the reticulo-rumen, omasum, abomasums, small intestine, cecum, and colon and rectum were totally collected and weighed. Weights of digesta in the reticulo-rumen were about 6 kg which contributed about 75% of the total in the whole tracts. Digesta on dry-matter basis totaled about 1 kg. The dry-matter concentration of digesta in the whole digestive tract was about 107 h/kg of fresh digesta. Distribution of moisture in the digestive tract changed in parallel with that of fresh digesta. There was no significant correlation observed between time after feeding and weights of digesta in the gastro-intestinal tracts. While, feed intake significantly correlated with digesta in the reticulo-rumen, cecum and whole tracts (p<0.01). Thus, time after feeding was inferred to have no influence upon the content of digesta in the digestive tract, but feed intake influenced on the content of digesta in the digestive tract at a low level of feeding.