| Livestock Research for Rural Development 21 (7) 2009 | Guide for preparation of papers | LRRD News | Citation of this paper |
The aim of this experiment was to determine the effect of growing site on the potential nutritive value of Lotus corniculatus hay in terms of chemical composition and in vitro gas production. The in vitro gas production of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from different growth site was determined at, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after incubation and their kinetics were described using the equation y = a+b(1-exp-ct).
Although the growing site had a significant (P<0.001) effect on the chemical composition, the growing site had no significant (P>0.05) effect on the gas production kinetics and estimated parameters such as organic matter digestibility (OMD) and metabolisable energy (ME). The relative feed value (RFV) of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 119.6 to 159.3 according to the standard assigned by Hay Market Task Force of American Forage and Grassland Council.
As a conclusion the growing site had a significant effect on the potential nutritive value of Lotus corniculatus hay. The current experiment showed that instead of in vitro gas production, RFV may be used as a quality index to compare the nutritive value of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from different growing site since gas production techniques did not allow discrimination among Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from different growing site.
Key words: in vitro gas production, relative feed value
Forages have important role in ruminant nutrition in terms of providing energy, protein and minerals. Birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) is one of the self-generating plants in native pasture in Turkey. The nutritive value of birdsfoot trefoil was comparable with other legumes (Waghorn and Shelton 1992). In some parts of the world birdsfoot trefoil was introduced into improved pasture to increase the animal output since it is non-bloating (Jones and Lyttleton 1971) palatable (Armstrong 1974) and rich in protein content. Birdsfoot trefoil is also better adapted than white clover to soils that are poorly drained, droughty or of low fertility (Hopkins et al 1994).
Generally nutritive value of forages depends on their dry matter digestibility and voluntary dry matter intake. Relative feed value (RFV) is a widely accepted forage quality index in the marketing of hays in the United States of America. It was developed by the Hay Marketing Task Force of American Forage and Grassland Council (Rohweder et al 1978). RFV combines the estimates for forage the estimates for forage digestibility and forage intake into a single number. RFV is calculated from estimation of acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (Caddel 2005). Hay producers and purchasers also use RFV in price discovery, especially in hay auctions (Undersander 2001). Forage seed producers use RFV to indicate variety improvement (Moore and Undersander 2002). Reference to RFV and the equations used to predict it appear in extension documents and textbooks (Kellems and Church 2002).
However, there is limited information about the hay obtanied from wild birdsfoot. Chemical composition, in combination with in vitro gas production, OMD and ME content are used to evaluate the potential nutritive value of forages (Evityani et al 2004; Fujihara et al 2005; Kamalak et al 2005a, b; Karabulut et al 2007; Dogmei et al 2008).
The aim of the current study was to determine the potential nutritive value of birdsfood trefoil from different growing sites harvested at flowering stage using the chemical composition, gas production kinetics and some estimated parameters such as metabolizable energy and organic matter digestibility.
Birdsfoot trefoil plants were hand harvested from plots established in the experiment units of native pasture at flowering stage which is common practice in Turkey for hay production. The hay samples were shade-dried and milled to pass through a 1mm sieve for subsequent analysis.
Dry matter content was determined by drying the samples at 105 0C overnight and the ash by igniting the samples in a muffle furnace at 525 0C for 8 h. Nitrogen (N) content was measured by the Kjeldahl method (AOAC 1990). The CP was calculated as N X 6.25. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was determined by the method Van Soest and Wine (1967) and ADF were determined by the method of Van Soest (1963). Condensed tannin contents of lotus hays were determined by the method of Makkar et al (1995). All chemical analyses were carried out in triplicate.
Relative feed value of birdsfoot trefoil hays is calculated from the estimates of dry matter digestibility (DDM) and dry matter intake (DMI). Relative feed value (RFV) was developed by the Hay Marketing Task force of American Forage and Grassland Council (Rohweder et al 1978) (Table 1).
% DMD = 88.9 - (0.779 x %ADF)
DMI % of BW = 120 / %NDF
RFV = (%DDM x %DMI) /1.29
DMD = Dry matter digestibility
ADF = acid detergent fibre (% of DM)
DMI = Dry matter intake (% of BW)
RFV = Relative feed value
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Table 1. Legume, grass and legume-grass mixture quality standards |
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|
Quality standard a |
CP |
ADF, % of DM |
NDF, % of DM |
RFV b |
|
Prime |
>19 |
<31 |
<40 |
>151 |
|
1 |
17-19 |
31-40 |
40-46 |
151-125 |
|
2 |
14-16 |
36-40 |
47-53 |
124-103 |
|
3 |
11-13 |
41-42 |
54-60 |
102-87 |
|
4 |
8-10 |
43-45 |
61-65 |
86-75 |
|
5 |
<8 |
>45 |
>65 |
<75 |
|
a standard assigned by Hay Market Task Force of American Forage and Grassland Council b Relative Feed Value(RFV)- Reference hay of 100 RFV contains 41 % ADF and 53 % NDF |
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Rumen fluid was obtained from two fistulated sheep fed twice daily with a diet containing alfalfa hay (60%) and concentrate (40%). The samples (0.200 g) were incubated in vitro with rumen fluid in the serum bottles following the procedures of Theodorou et al (1994). Three serum bottles with only buffered rumen fluid were incubated and considered as the blank incubation. Each incubation was completed in triplicate. The serum bottles were prewarmed to 39 0C before the injection of 50 ml rumen fluid-buffer mixture into each bottle followed by incubation in a water bath at 39 0C. Gas production was recorded at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after incubation using a pressure transducer and LED digital readout voltmeter (Bailey and Mackey Ltd, Birmingam, UK).
Cumulative gas production data were fitted to the exponential equation: y = a + b (1-exp-ct) (Řrskov and McDonald 1979),
Where y is the gas production at time t; a is the gas production from the immediately soluble fraction (mL), b is the gas production from the insoluble fraction (mL), c is the gas production rate constant, a + b = the potential gas production (mL), t = incubation time (h).
The ME (MJ/kg DM) of silages was calculated using equations of Menke et al (1979) as follows:
ME (MJ/kg DM) = 2.20 + 0.136 GP + 0.057 CP R2=0.94
Where,
GP is 24 h net gas production (ml/200 mg),
CP = Crude protein (%)
The OMD of silages was calculated using equations of Menke et al (1979) as follows:
OMD (%) = 14.88 + 0.889 GP + 0.45 CP + 0.0651XA
Where,
GP is 24 h net gas production (ml / 200 mg),
CP = Crude protein (%)
XA = Ash content (%)
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to compare the mean chemical composition, DMD, DMI, RFV, gas production, estimated parameters, in vitro DMD and ME values using General Linear Model (GLM) of Statistica for windows (Statistica 1993). Significance between individual means was identified using the Tukey’s multiple range test (Pearse and Hartley 1966). Mean differences were considered significant at P<0.05. Standard errors of means were calculated from the residual mean square in the analysis of variance.
The chemical compositions of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from different growing sites are given in Table 2.
|
Table 2. The effect of growing site on the chemical composition of Lotus corniculatus hay |
|||||||
|
|
Sites |
SEM |
Sig |
||||
|
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
|||
|
DM |
92.69 |
92.36 |
92.78 |
92.86 |
92.55 |
0.159 |
NS |
|
CP |
19.20ab |
18.66ab |
20.94a |
17.16b |
19.23ab |
0.523 |
*** |
|
NDF |
42.15bc |
43.95ab |
40.36cd |
45.63a |
38.00d |
0.594 |
*** |
|
ADF |
35.77b |
36.81b |
34.69b |
38.78a |
30.62c |
0.528 |
*** |
|
Ash |
10.17a |
7.17d |
9.75b |
8.69c |
9.38b |
0.108 |
*** |
|
CT |
3.68 |
3.91 |
2.99 |
2.89 |
2.87 |
0.335 |
NS |
|
DM: dry matter (%), CP : Crude protein (%), NDF: Neutral detergent fibre (%), ADF: Acid detergent fibre(%), CT: Condensed tannin(%), Means within the same row with differing superscript are significantly different. *** P<0.001, NS: Non significant, SEM: Standard error, Sig: Significance level |
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The growing site had a significant (P<0.001) effect on the chemical composition of hay except for DM and CT. The CP content ranged from 17.16 to 19.23%. The Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from Site III was higher than that obtained from Site IV.
The CP contents of Lotus corniculatus hay were consistent with those reported by Ramirez-Restrepo et al (2006) who found that CP content of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 10.56 to 21.93% and decreased with increasing maturity. This result also in agreement with findings of Karabulut et al (2006) who reported that CP contents of Lotus corniculatus hay harvested flowering stage was 17.15%. Several authors indicated that the CP contents of hay were closely associated with maturity stages and CP content decreased with plant maturity (Kamalak et al 2005a, b; Buxton 1996; Minson 1990). The decrease in CP with maturity takes place both because of decrease in protein in leaves and stems, and because stems, with their lower protein concentration, make up a larger portion of herbage in more mature forage (Buxton 1996).
The NDF and ADF content ranged from 38.00 to 45.63% and 30.62 to 38.78% respectively. Although NDF content of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from Site IV was significantly (P<0.001) higher than those obtained from other sites except for Site II. The ADF content of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from Site IV was significantly (P<0.001) higher than those obtained from the other sites. The NDF and ADF contents of Lotus corniculatus hay harvested at flowering stage were higher than those reported by Karabulut et al (2006) who found that The NDF and ADF contents of Lotus corniculatus hay harvested at flowering stage were 34.62 and 27.69 % respectively. The differences are possibly associated with growing conditions.
The growing site had no significant (P>0.05) effect on the CT contents of Lotus corniculatus hay. The CT ranged from 2.87 to 3.91 %. These results are in agreement with finding of Ramirez-Restrepo et al (2006), Niezen et al (2002) who found that CT contents of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 0.83 to 2.87 % and 1.6 to 5.5 % respectively. It was reported that low level of CT in plants has beneficial effect on the animal such as improvement in efficiency of protein digestion (Waghorn et al 1987), animal production (Wang et al 1996; Ramirez-Restrepo et al 2006). It was also reported that condensed tannin may act as anthelmintics against parasitic nematodes or indirectly by improving nitrogen supply (Niezen et al 1995; Robertson et al 1995; Butter et al 1998).
The effect of growing site on the DMD, DMI and RFV of Lotus corniculatus hay is given in Table 3.
|
Table 3. The effect of growing site on dry matter digestibility, dry matter intake and the relative feed value |
|||||||
|
|
Sites |
SEM |
Sig |
||||
|
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
|||
|
DMD % |
61.03b |
60.27bc |
61.87b |
58.69c |
65.04a |
0.411 |
*** |
|
DMI % |
2.84bc |
2.73cd |
2.97ab |
2.63d |
3.15a |
0.041 |
*** |
|
RFV |
134.7bc |
127.5cd |
142.8b |
119.6d |
159.3a |
2.006 |
*** |
|
DMD: dry matter digestibility (%), DMI: Dry matter intake (%), RFV: relative feed value, Means within the same row with differing superscript are significantly different. *** P<0.001, SEM: Standard error, Sig: Significance level |
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The growing site had a significant (P<0.001) effect on the chemical composition on the DMD, DMI and RFV of Lotus corniculatus hay. The DM digestibility Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 58.69 to 65.04 %. The DMI of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 2.63 to 315 %. The RFV of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 119.6 to 159.3. In another word, the grade of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 2 to prime according to the standard assigned by Hay Market Task Force of American Forage and Grassland Council given in Table 1.
Although the DMD and RFV of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from Site V were significantly (P<0.001) higher than those obtained from the other sites, the DMI of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from site V was significantly (P<0.001) higher than those obtained from Site I, II and IV.
The effect of growing site on the gas production kinetics and some estimated parameters of Lotus corniculatus hay is given in Table 4.
|
Table 4. The effect of growing site on gas production kinetics and some estimated parameters |
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|
|
Sites |
SEM |
Sig |
||||
|
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
|||
|
Gas24 |
46.50 |
44.00 |
44.83 |
47.17 |
47.00 |
0.963 |
NS |
|
c |
0.083 |
0.082 |
0.086 |
0.102 |
0.088 |
0.006 |
NS |
|
a |
4.33 |
4.88 |
4.49 |
4.01 |
4.85 |
0.216 |
NS |
|
b |
52.83 |
50.47 |
51.07 |
52.24 |
52.66 |
1.404 |
NS |
|
a+b |
57.16 |
55.35 |
55.57 |
56.26 |
57.51 |
1.531 |
NS |
|
ME |
9.61 |
9.25 |
9.49 |
9.59 |
9.69 |
0.136 |
NS |
|
OMD |
65.56 |
62.86 |
64.80 |
65.10 |
65.93 |
0.908 |
NS |
|
Gas24= gas production at 24 h incubation, c is the gas production rate constant, a is the gas production from the immediately soluble fraction (mL), b is the gas production from the insoluble fraction (mL), a + b = the potential gas production (mL), ME: Metabolizable Energy, OMD: Organic matter digestibility, Means within the same row with differing superscript are significantly different, NS: Non significant, SEM: Standard error, Sig: Significance level |
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The growing site had no significant (P>0.05) effect on gas production kinetics and some estimated parameters of Lotus corniculatus hay. The gas production at 24 h incubation ranged from 44.00 and 47 ml. The ME and OMD contents of Lotus corniculatus hay ranged from 9.25 to 9. 69 MJ /kg DM and 62.86 to 65.93 %.
The estimated parameters such as c, a, b, a+b, OMD and ME obtained in this experiment considerably higher than that reported by Karabulut et al (2006) who found that c, a, b, a+b, OMD and ME of Lotus corniculatus hay harvested at flowering stages were 0.06, 3.10, 68.83, 71.93, 71.70 and 10.62 respectively. The differences between two experiments are possibly associated with the differences in the chemical composition of Lotus corniculatus hay used. As can be seen from Table 2 the NDF and ADF contents of Lotus corniculatus hay used in the current experiment were considerably higher than those obtained in the experiment carried out by Karabulut et al (2006). It was well established that the NDF and ADF contents of forage are negatively correlated with some of gas production kinetics, metobolisable energy and organic matter digestibility (Kamalak et al 2005a, b; Kamalak 2006). The NDF and ADF had a dilution effect on the other available nutrients to micro-organisms. As a result of this, the higher levels of NDF and ADF in forage give rise to the lower gas production kinetics and estimated parameters such as metobolisable energy and organic matter digestibility.
The growing site had a significant effect of potential nutritive of Lotus corniculatus hay.
RFV may be used as a quality index to compare the nutritive value of Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from different growing site since gas production techniques did not allow discrimination among Lotus corniculatus hay obtained from different growing site.
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Received 2 January 2009; Accepted 9 March 2009; Published 1 July 2009