Fertilization Effects on the Chemical Composition and In vitro Organic Matter Digestibility of Semi-natural Meadows as Predicted by NIR Spectrometry

<p><span style="font-size: small;">Management of livestock grazing in highly-productive mountain meadows is an important aspect for the economic viability and the environmental impact of a grassland-based farm. The main aim of this study was to build near infrared models to determine the chemical composition and </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: small;">in vitro </span></span></em><span style="font-size: small;">organic matter digestibility of Romanian meadow forages. The treatments were organic and mineral fertilizer combinations, and forage samples were obtained from three fertilization experiments conducted in the Apuseni Mountains; these samples were analysed using classical and NIR methods. The samples were scanned in the NIR wavelength band. The CRA-W Gembloux ‘local’ calibration models were validated with Romanian meadow forages and then used in order to predict the forage quality of samples. A second objective of the study was to determine the effects of fertilization on forage quality. The results showed a </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">decrease in crude protein content from the NPK treatment </span><span style="font-size: small;">(150:75:75), </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">which can be explained by a reduction of </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: x-small;">Fabaceae </span></span></em><span style="font-size: x-small;">plants with this treatment from </span><span style="font-size: small;">17.25% of the populations in the control (semi-natural meadow not fertilized) to 6.25% in the fertilized plots. The decrease in protein content and </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: small;">in vitro </span></span></em><span style="font-size: small;">organic matter digestibility was related to a reduced </span><em><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Garamond Premr Pro Subh,Garamond Premr Pro Subh; font-size: small;">Fabaceae </span></span></em><span style="font-size: small;">presence. </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Our recommendation is to use mineral fertilization with NPK doses less than 100:50:50 to improve meadow productivity; meanwhile organic fertilization can also be used to complement and maintain biodiversity and forage quality.</span></p>