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Freezing—A Technique for Forage Investigations^1,2,

Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa

Abstract

A procedure for preserving green forages by freezing which is suitable for animal experimentation is discussed. Feeding trials with sheep using red clover, alfalfa, brome grass, green oats, orchard grass and birdsfoot trefoil at different stages of maturity failed to show any significant differences in consumption which could be attributed to freezing. Chopping the forages likewise had no significant effect. Animals exhibited some ability to select parts of the plants regardless of whether the forage was fed in chopped or long state. Rate of dry matter digestibilities of frozen forage showed some lag behind that of the fresh forage within the first 6 hours but this difference was overcome within 12 hours. The bloat producing ability of immature alfalfa could be preserved by freezing.

¹ Contribution No. 74, Animal Research Institute, Research Branch, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ontario.

² The authors wish to thank W. Emond for technical assistance, Genetics and Plant Breeding Research Institute for providing some of the forages, and Analytical Chemistry Research Service for conducting the proximate analyses.