Abstract
Cultivated forage species may have higher nutrients contents (NC) and forage quality indicators (FQI) than their wild relatives. Nine forage samples collected five times from a mixed rangeland and an experimental field during two consecutive years was analysed for ash, crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and neutral detergent (NDF) and acid detergent (ADF) fibres. Then, their FQI such as digestible dry matter (DDM), dry matter intake (DMI), metabolizable energy (ME) and relative forage quality (RFQ) were calculated. Data were performed in a linear model with fixed effects (forage plant type [PT] and species [PS]) to NC and FQI, and subjected to hierarchical two-way clustering analysis. Cultivated and wilds relatives varied in CP (12.0-18.9% and 8.8-23.3%), ADF (20.9-33.1% and 39.3-73.5%) and NDF (37.2-61.6% and 26.7-46.1%) contents and ME (8.7-9.7 MJ kg-1 DM and 7.0-9.6 MJ kg-1 DM) and RFQ (98.8-186.7 and 74.6-161.7) values. There were interactions between PT and PS for all NC and FQI, except for CP and EE contents. In general, the CP, EE, ADF, ME and RFQ of cultivars were higher, whereas NDF was lower than those of the wilds. The most notable differences (NDF, ADF and RFQ) between the PT represented the differences in nutritional traits based on the clustering analysis. The cultivated and wilds relatives are comprised of NC and FQI that respond differently under same circumstances.
Highlights
Rangelands and pastures subjected to intensive management are consisted of simple mixtures of only grass (Gramineae) varieties and cultivars or grass and legume (Leguminosae) species (Hayes et al, 2013) but are not included other botanical families (OBF) or nonleguminous forbs (Elgersma et al, 2014)
Study Area and Species Selection In this study, the third part of a research project (Aydın et al, 2018), the nine of forage species belong to cultivars and wild relatives collected from an experimental field and the collected from the mountainous rangeland, respectively, (40°50′ to 41°51′ N and 37°08′ to 34°25′ E at nearly 1200 m above sea level) in Samsun province located in the middle Black Sea region of Turkey were used
The cultivars resulted in a remarkable higher nutritive value relative to the wilds
Summary
Rangelands and pastures subjected to intensive management are consisted of simple mixtures of only grass (Gramineae) varieties and cultivars or grass and legume (Leguminosae) species (Hayes et al, 2013) but are not included other botanical families (OBF) or nonleguminous forbs (Elgersma et al, 2014). Grasses increase yield and stability of rangelands, whereas the legume and OBF species improve both their productivity and nutritional value or quality (Capstaff and Miller, 2018). Forage crops utilized in both grazing and the cut-andcarry system meets the physical and physiological requirements of domesticated ruminants (Capstaff and Miller, 2018) These crops not merely maintain these animals, and sustain the delivery of meat, milk and other products (Hayes et al, 2013; Lee, 2018). One of the greatest challenges to the efficient production of ruminants is the shortage of forage resources available throughout critical periods of their production cycle (Uzun and Ocak, 2019) In such cases, to enhance ruminant productivity, the high-yield and nutritious native forages that cultivated (hereafter cultivars) are used in grazing or the cut-and-carry system (Aydin et al, 2019). The yield and quality of herbage and persistence in forages, the primary production traits, are critical for
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