Acid Detergent Cellulose Research Articles

English

Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam. moringaceae) is a highly valued plant that is mostly cultivated in the tropics and subtropics. It is used for food, medication and industrial purposes. The objective of the study was to assess the nutritional value of Moringa leaves of the South African ecotype. Proximate and Van Soest methods were used to determine the nutritional value of Moringa leaves. The dried leaves had crude protein levels of 30.3% and 19 amino acids. The dried leaves had the following mineral contents: calcium (3.65%), phoshorus (0.3%), magnesium (0.5%), potassium (1.5%), sodium (0.164%), sulphur (0.63%), zinc (13.03 mg/kg), copper (8.25%), manganese (86.8 mg/kg), iron (490 mg/kg) and selenium (363 mg/kg). 17 fatty acids were observed with α-Linolenic acid (44.57%) having the highest value followed by heneicosanoic (14.41%), g-linolenic (0.20%) palmiteic (0.17%) and capric acid (0.07%). Vitamin E had the highest concentration of 77 mg/100 g than beta-carotene, which had 18.5 mg/100 g in the dried leaves. The fiber content was neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (11.4%), acid detergent fibre (ADF) (8.49%), acid detergent lignin (ADL) (1.8%) and (acid detergent cellulose (ADC) (4.01%). The condensed tannins had a value of 3.2%, while total polyphenols were 2.02%. The values of amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamin profiles reflect a desirable nutritional balance.   Key words: South African, supplemental food, nutritional value, Moringa oleifera.

Germplasm Variability and Environmental Effects on Stem Cellulose and Lignin Concentrations in Alfalfa*

AbstractStem cellulose and lignin concentrations are major determining factors of alfalfa (Medicago sativa ssp. sativa L.) forage quality. Only limited information is available on the genetic variability and the influence of environmental effects on these two stem‐quality traits. Our objectives were to: evaluate the variability for stem cellulose and lignin concentrations in modern alfalfa germplasms across several harvests; observe the environmental stability of these two quality traits in 32 alfalfa clones selected high or low for either stem cellulose or lignin concentration; and examine the relationships between these two stem‐quality traits and leaf and stem crude protein (CP). Fifty alfalfa entries (cultivars and experimental populations) were established May 1993, and sampled for stem acid‐detergent lignin (ADL), stem acid‐detergent cellulose (ADC), and stem CP on Sep 1993, June and Aug 1994. Clones were vegetatively propagated from individual plants selected for extremes in stem ADL and ADC and transplanted into blocks at two locations in May 1994 and sampled for quality analysis in September 1994. For all samples, leaves were hand‐separated from stems and stem ADL, ADC, CP and leaf CP concentration were determined using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Entry differences for stem ADL and ADC were detected only at the June 1994 harvest date in the cultivar study. Spearman's ranked correlations over years in the clonal study demonstrated greater environmental stability for stem ADC (r = 0.70, P ≥ 0.01) than for stem ADL (r = 0.54, P # 0.05). Environmental effects had an impact on both traits, but stem ADC showed greater potential for improving forage quality. Simple correlations showed that decreasing stem ADL or ADC would have minimal effect on leaf CP and may increase stem CP.

Foliar fibre predicts diet selection by invasive Red Deer Cervus elaphus scoticus in a temperate New Zealand forest

Summary There is much interest in how herbivores interact with plant communities, but the association between foliar traits and the feeding behaviour of invading browsing mammals has not been explored in this context. We investigated whether eight foliar traits predicted the preferences of invasive Red Deer for 21 woody plant species in lowland forest in southern New Zealand. The four models with substantial support for predicting variation in two indices of diet selection all included one or more traits related to foliar fibre (acid detergent fibre; acid detergent cellulose; acid detergent lignin). In all models the coefficients were negative, indicating that as the concentrations of foliar fibre increased, the preference of deer for foliage decreased. Our results thus link the feeding behaviour of Red Deer with previously demonstrated shifts in the composition of New Zealand forests towards understorey species and leaf litter with high concentrations of foliar fibre.

Yields and chemical composition of different parts of the common vetch of flowering and at two seed filling states

In annual forage legumes such as the common vetch (Vicia sativa L.), in which the pods represent a substantial proportion of the total biomass, the optimum harvesting stage may not adjust to the classical model of decreasing nutritive value after flowering. The effect of harvest time on the yield of the main chemical components of common vetch was evaluated under field conditions typical of the Castilian Plain (Mediterranean continental-type climate under rain-fed conditions). Over two growing seasons (1996-1997 and 1997-1998), plants were harvested at flowering and at two stages during seed filling (characterized by a progressively higher dry matter content of the seed; 280 and 380 g kg-1 respectively). The results show that the greater quality and quantity of the pods offsets the decrease in quality occasioned by the aging of the vegetative plant parts (stems plus leaves). Crude protein yields were not affected by delaying the harvest-time. Starch yields were higher when the plant was harvested during seed-filling. Sugar yields increased between flowering and seed filling in the first growing season but decreased in the second. Yields of structural components such as neutral-detergent fibre, acid-detergent fibre and acid-detergent cellulose, followed a pattern similar to that of crude protein. There therefore appears to be a flexible harvest period ranging from flowering until the beginning of seed filling (seeds with 380 g dry matter kg-1), which may be advantageous when trying to select optimum haymaking conditions.