Abstract
Intercropping legume with cereal is an extensively applied planting pattern in crop cultivation. However, forage potential and the degradability of harvested mixtures from intercropping system remain unclear. To investigate the feasibility of applying an intercropping system as a forage supply source to ruminants, two consecutive experiments (experiments 1 and 2) involving a field cultivation trial and a subsequent in vivo degradable experiment were conducted to determine the forage production performance and the ruminally degradable characteristics of a harvested mixture from an alfalfa/corn-rye intercropping system. In experiment 1, the intercropping system was established by alternating alfalfa and corn or rye with a row ratio of 5:2. Dry matter (DM) and nutrient yields were determined. In experiment 2, forages harvested from the different treatments were used as feedstuff to identify nutrient degradation kinetics and distribution of components between the rapidly degradable (a), potentially degradable (b) and the degradation rate constant (c) of ‘b’ fraction by in sacco method in Small-Tail Han wether Sheep. The intercropping system of alfalfa and corn-rye provided higher forage production performance with net increases of 9.52% and 34.81% in DM yield, 42.13% and 16.74% in crude protein (CP) yield, 25.94% and 69.99% in degradable DM yield, and 16.96% and 5.50% in degradable CP yield than rotation and alfalfa sole cropping systems, respectively. In addition, the harvest mixture from intercropping system also had greater ‘a’ fraction, ‘b’ fraction, ‘c’ values, and effective degradability (E value) of DM and CP than corn or rye hay harvested from rotation system. After 48-h exposure to rumen microbes, intercropping harvest materials were degraded to a higher extent than separately degraded crop stems from the sole system as indicated by visual microscopic examination with more tissues disappeared. Thus, the intercropping of alfalfa and corn-rye exhibited a greater forage production potential, and could be applied as forage supply source for ruminants. The improved effective degradability of harvest mixture material could be attributed to greater degradable components involving the rapidly degradable fractions (a), potentially degradable (b) fractions, and degradable rate constant (c), than that of corn and rye hay.
Highlights
In many farming areas of the world, the continuous reduction of arable land has decreased the available land area for forage production [1,2]
Significant (P
The intercropping system exhibited higher (P 0.002) DM and CP yields, and lower (P = 0.001) NDF yield than the rotation of corn and rye
Summary
In many farming areas of the world, the continuous reduction of arable land has decreased the available land area for forage production [1,2]. Deficient superior forage is the main restrictive factor in herbivorous livestock industry in those regions [6,7,8]. This deficiency, including unbalanced seasonal forage distribution, can be resolved by purchasing and storing high quality roughage feed such as hay or silage for ruminants [9,10]. Despite the advantage of this practice, production costs are likely increased and farm profitability is reduced. Feasible methods should be established to satisfy roughage requirement for rapid and sustainable development of ruminant husbandry [6,11,12]
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