Composition of forages

JB Reeves HI. Near- versus Mid-Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for the Quantitative Determination of the Composition of Forages and By-products. Near Infrared Spectrosc. 2 49-57, 1994. 

Table IV. Composition of Forages in Percentages of Dry Matter and Digestion Coefficients of Components"...

The amino acid composition of forages is clearly important when the feeds are used as protein sources for non-ruminants. For ruminants, however, the most important characteristics of forage proteins are their rumen degradability and their overall digestibility. In immature forages, both measures are commonly very high (0.7-0.8),... 

Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy has been traditionally developed in animal science to evaluate the chemical composition of forages (4, 5, 15). Compared with forages, little information is available on the suitability of NIR spectroscopy in the estimation of the chemical composition and nutritive value of by-product materials derived from livestock. The information available in the literature relates only to the use of NIR spectroscopy to determine gross chemical composition such as dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), fat (oil), and amino acid content in a few livestock animal by-products. Examples of NIR applications in animal by-products are summarized in Tables 8.3.3 and 8.3.4. Good correlations were found for DM and CP in the different animal by-products. Although good correlations were found for some amino acids, Fontaine et al. (22) stated that the calibration for sulfur-containing amino acids are... 

Scotter, G. W. (1965). Chemical composition of forage lichens from northern Saskatchewan as related to use by barren-ground caribou. Can. J. Plant. Sci. 45, 246. 

Legume forages, such as alfalfa or clover, are considered high quaHty, readily available protein sources. Animal sources of supplemental protein include meat and bone meal blood meal, 80% CP fish meal other marine products and hydroly2ed feathermeal, 85—90% CP. Additionally, synthetic amino acids are available commercially. Several sources (3,9,19) provide information about the protein or amino acid composition of feedstuffs. 

Chilliard Y, Ferlay A and Doreau M (2001), Effects of different types of forages, animal fat or marine oils in cow s diet on milk fat secretion and composition, especially conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids , Livestock Production Science, 70, 31-48. 

Fontaine, A. S., Bout, S., Barriere, Y., and Vermerris, W., 2003, Variation in cell wall composition among forage maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines and its impact in digestibility analysis of neutral detergent fiber composition by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, J. Agric. FoodChem. 51 8080-8087. 

Isawa, K., Abe, A., Nishihara, N. Influence of diseases on the chemical composition and nutritive value of forage crops. I. Chemical composition of Italian ryegrass infected with crown rust. Ann Phytopathol Soc Japan 1974 40 86-92. 

Miller DF. Composition of Cereal Grains and Forages. Vol. 585. Washington, DC National Academy of Science, National Research Council 1958. 

Winton, A. and Winton, K. (1932). The structure and composition of foods. In "Vol. 1 Cereals, Starch. Oil Seeds, Nuts, Oils, Forage Plants" (John Wiley and Sons, Ed.), pp. 322-325. John Wiley and Sons, London. 

Murray, S.S. Schoeninger, M.J. Butm, H.T. Pickering, T.R. Marlett, J.A. Nutritional Composition of Some Wild Plant Foods and Honey Used by Hadza Foragers of Tanzania. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 2001,74, 3-13. 

Dried and never-dried pulps have the same lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose content at the same yield, but very different digestibilities. The composition of a pulp is therefore a poor guide to its digestibility, some other factor obviously being of considerable importance, and, if this is true of the present series of samples, it is likely to be true also of forages of different species or maturity. 

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