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Initial evaluation of lupin for forage
Author(s) -
SHELDRICK R. D.,
TAYLER R. S.,
MAINGU Z.,
PONGKAO S.
Publication year - 1980
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.1365-2494.1980.tb01530.x
Subject(s) - forage , dry matter , lupinus , lupinus angustifolius , crop , yield (engineering) , biology , zoology , agronomy , point of delivery , materials science , metallurgy
Small‐plot trials with Lupinus albus cv. Kievskij Mutant (sweet) and L. angustifolius cv. Kubesa (bitter) and Uniwhite (sweet) were sown in April 1977. Sequential whole‐crop samples of the above ground dry matter (DM) were taken to assess the interaction of DM yield and forage quality during crop growth. Both species had similar DM yields, exceeding 11 t DM ha 1 in August. L. albus displayed superior whole‐crop in vitro digestibility from late July, due to the large contribution to total DM yield from this time from its succulent, highly digestible pod shells. L. angustifolius showed higher N contents in June and early July, but N concentrations fell below those of L. albus from early August. The steady decline in digestibility of forage from L. angustifolius suggests this species should be harvested rather earlier than L. albus. Harvested in mid‐August, L. albus should yield 11 t DM ha ‐1 , ata D‐value of 64 and 23·5 g N per kg DM, whereas L. angustifolius harvested 10–14 d earlier should give the same DM yield, but at a D‐value of 58 and 22·0 g N per kg DM. Lupins can thus be regarded as having good potential forage yields, but providing material of only moderate quality.