J. Anim Sci.
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J. Anim Sci. 1971. 33:1072-1077.
© 1971 American Society of Animal Science
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Changes in Carbohydrate and Nitrogen Fractions and Digestibility of Forages: Method of Sample Processing1

Michael M. Danley and R. L. Vetter

Iowa State University,2 Ames 50010

Abstract

NUTRITIONAL evaluation of fresh forages is often difficult because of problems involved in sampling and preparation of the fresh plant material. Thus, the tendency in forage research has been to analyze oven-dried plant material to determine the chemical composition of the fresh plant.

Couchman (1959a, b) and Melvin (1963) reported that temperature affects the chemical composition of stored forage. Their data suggest that changes in chemical composition may result from one or more of the following: (1) loss of components, such as ammonia and carbon dioxide; (2) degradation of carbohydrates; (3) enrichment of nonvolatile fractions; and (4) formation of protein-carbohydrate artifacts not originally present in the forage.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of sample handling and drying on the carbohydrate and nitrogen fractions and digestibility of fresh and ensiled forages.

Materials and Methods

Experimental plots of Pioneer 931 (Pio 931) and Rudy Patrick (RP-30F) forage sorghums, high-sugar corn (Cargill HS-50) and silage corn (Cargill 1089) were harvested with a field chopper at 70, 100, 130, 160 and 190 days post-emergence. At each harvest, 15 300-g samples of each chopped forage were taken and assigned at random to three treatments (freeze-ground, oven-dried at 65 C and oven-dried at 100 C).

Footnotes

1 Journal Paper No. J-6813 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 1559.

2 Department of Animal Science.






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Copyright © 1971 by the American Society of Animal Science.