New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
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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