Yield and nutritive value of alpine pasture in upper Kaghan valley[Pakistan]

Study was carried out to determine the yield and nutritive value of majorherbage groups of alpine pasture at four different sites in upper Kaghanvalley. Herbage yield (kg/ha) was significantly affected by location (P lessthan 0.001) and cut herbage type (P less than 0.001). Comparison of meanyield of three herbage types across the locations showed that maximum (P lessthan 0.05) yield of 408.00 (kg/ha) was obtain with forbs followed by 195.00kg/ha and with grasses and 72 .51 kg/ha with shrubs in descending order ofsignificance. Among the four locations, total herbage yield was maximum inBurawai (1003 kg/ha) and was minimum in Basel and, Gittidas and the yield inJalkhad was ranked as intermediate (P less than 0.05). However the mean yieldof individual herbage group in the four locations was variable did not followthe same pattern as confirmed by significant interaction of location x herbagetype (P less than 0.01). Herbage yield was significantly (P less than 0.001)affected by harvesting intervals. There was also a significant interaction (Pless than 0.001) herbage type x cut. Total herbage yield was maximum at 2ndcut (August) and was minimum at 1st cut (July) and the yield remained at 3rdcut (September). A similar pattern of variation among the three cuts was alsofound for grasses and forbs while shrub yield remained the with cuts. Crudeprotein (CP) significantly varied due to location (P less than 0.001), cut (Pless than 0.001) and herbage type (P less than 0.001) Mean CP contents acrossthe three herbage in Basel, Jalkhad, Gittidas and Burawai were 16.57, 12.30,11.98 and 11.27% in dry matter, respectively. Mean CP values of herbage at 1st2nd and 3rd cuts were 14.37, 12.82 and 12.53% in dry mater, respectively.Comparison of the mean CP values among the three herbage types indicatedthat it was maximum in shrubs (14.77%) followed by forbs (13.63%) and grasses(12.34). In vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) was significantly influencedby location (P less than 0.001) and herbage type (P less than 0.001). MeanIVDMD across the three herbage groups in Basel, Jalkhad, Gitttidas andBurawai was (63.80, 44.94, 53.25 and 60.88%, respectively. Mean IVDMD ofgrasses, forbs and shrubs were recorded as 54.20,56.7 and 67.06%,respectively. The IVDMD of herbage was not significantly affected due to cut(P less than 0.05). Mean IVDMD at 1st, 2nd and 3rd cuts was 59.44, 56.44 and53.53%, respectively. The lack of difference in IVDMD due to harvestingintervals may be due to short interval of 30 days between each cut. In thepresent study, there was no relationship between IVDMD and CP content ofherbage. Variation in the yield, CP contents and IVDMD of herbage among thefour experimental sites was attributed to plan composition of the sward whichshowed different proportions of the herbage was harvested at monthlyintervals, the short period of plant growth may explain the lack of differencein IVDMD among the three cuts. It is concluded that among the three herbagetypes investigated in the present study, although the yield of forbs wasmaximum, the nutritive value of shrubs remained higher than other twoherbage types.