The effect of late nitrogenous top-dressing on the digestibility of hay

Abstract

SUMMARY: Comparative digestibility trials have been carried out on hays top-dressed with nitrogenous fertilizers 8–13 days before cutting and on similar hays which were not top-dressed.The top-dressing resulted in an increase of 2·0% crude protein and 1·2% true protein.The digestibility of the protein was significantly higher in the top-dressed hays and no other constituents were affected.The protein equivalents in hay dry matter were increased from 4·4 to 6·0% by the top-dressing.