Further Determinations of the Nutritive Values of Forages

Abstract

In a series of 49 digestion and calorimetric experiments with sheep, nutritive values were determined on (1) Kentucky bluegrass and ladino clover harvested to simulate grazing, (2) on successive cuttings of brome grass and of orchard grass throughout the entire growing season, and (3) on timothy hay harvested, (a) before flowering, (b) at the early bloom stage and (c) past full bloom. From the results of the present study combined with those of earlier work, Kentucky bluegrass takes first position of six common forages tested, whether the criterion be metabolizable energy, digestible energy, or total digestible nutrients. The metabolizable energy value of ladino clover is essentially identical to that of brome grass and orchard grass. The season's yield of orchard grass is greater than that of brome grass. The nutritive value of orchard grass decreases as the season progresses but is definitely improved as to composition and digestibility by the application of nitrogen in mid-season The nutritive value of timothy hay per acre may be reduced IS percent by a delay in time of harvest. Copyright © . .