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THE VOLUNTARY INTAKE AND DIGESTIBILITY BY SHEEP OE LEAF AND STEM FRACTIONS OF LOLIUM PERENNE
Author(s) -
Laredo M. A.,
Minson D. J.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1975.tb01356.x
Subject(s) - lolium perenne , biology , temperate climate , agronomy , lolium , botany , zoology , poaceae
The leaves of tropical grasses are eaten in larger quantities than stems of similar DM digestibility. To determine whether the same fact applied to a temperate grass, studies were made with leaf and stem fractions of Lolium perenne . The leaves of L. perenne had a 20% higher voluntary intake than the stems, white the DM digestibilities were only slightly higher (67·3%ν. 64·8%). The leaves also had a larger surface area/g, a higher initial (12 h) fermentation rate in vitro , larger content of pepsin‐soluble DM, and a smaller energy require ment to grind I g DM in a laboratory mill compared with the stems. The difference in voluntary intake between the leaves and stems of L. perenne was smaller than that for a number of tropical grasses.