Evolution of the standing hay chemical composition in natural and improved Mediterranean pastures
1995
Sulas, L. | Porqueddu, C. (CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Sassari (Italy). Centro di Studio sul Miglioramento della Produtivita dei Pascoli) | Caredda, S. (Istituto di Agronomia Generale e Coltivazioni Erbacee, Sassari (Italy))
A trial with dairy sheep was conducted in North Sardinia (Italy) to determine the availability and chemical composition trends of natural and improved pastures as standing hay. In winter, available and grazed dry matter yield was higher in the improved pasture (sod-seeding of annual ryegrass plus subterranean clover), than in the natural fertilized one (dominated by the spontaneous annual grasses). At the end of May, available dry matter as standing hay was 3.96 and 4.30 t ha-1 respectively, in the natural and improved pastures. Chemical analysis conducted on forage samples, collected from the end of May through September, evidenced higher crude protein and nutritive value, lower NDF and ADF content in the improved pasture than in the natural one. This was largely due to the different botanic composition. Although low absolute values of crude protein and high of NDF were recorded in the two treatments in comparison, there were considerable differences in relative terms; for instance crude protein content was two times higher in the improved pastures. Moreover, different parts of plants can have different crude protein content and digestibility and the animal selection capacity is very important. The high amount of standing hay recorded in spring has considerable impact in terms of animal summer feed and in environmental terms for the risk of fire. Further investigations are required in order to establish the digestibility of different types of standing hay and herbage plant parts in collaboration with animal scientists
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