New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

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Chemical composition of some Iberian Mediterranean leguminous shrubs potentially useful for forage in seasonally dry areas

FERNANDO GONZALEZ-ANDRES
JOSE-LUIS CERESUELA

Departamento de Biologia Vegetal
Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros
Agronomos
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
28040 Madrid, Spain
*Present address: Landcare Research, Private Bag 3127, Hamilton, New Zealand.

Abstract The chemical composition of herbage produced by legume shrubs was determined to appraise their potential value for forage. Six species were assessed for seasonal variation in the proportion of leaves, and ash content, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and crude protein (CP) concentrations. Hippocrepis balearica, Medicago citrina, Medicago strasseri, and Medicago arborea showed an average ADF content <25% and an average crude protein content > 18%. The chemical composition of Medicago strasseri was very close to that of Medicago arborea throughout the year. In winter and summer, Medicago citrina showed lower ADF and ADL content than Medicago arborea. Therefore, Medicago citrina could be useful as a summer or a winter forage. Hippocrepis balearica showed higher crude protein content in summer and lower ADF content in winter than Medicago arborea, but significantly higher ADL contents (9.7% to 12.5% versus 7.1% to 9.4%). Therefore, Hippocrepis balearica could be a good option as a winter and summer forage, although further studies are necessary to elucidate the possible detrimental effect of lignin in forage digestibility. Coronilla juncea and Cytisus arboreus showed an average ADF content >30% and an average crude protein content <15%. Coronilla juncea showed good chemical composition in winter (28.7% ADF, 9.0% ADL, and 12.6% crude protein) making this species potentially useful as a winter forage.

Keywords Hippocrepis; Medicago; Coronilla; Cytisus; crude protein; neutral detergent fiber; acid detergent fiber; acid detergent lignin; forage quality

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1998, Vol. 41: 139-147

0028-8233/98/4102-0139 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1998

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (703K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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