FACTOR AFFECTING THE CHEMICAL

COMPOSITION OF HREBAGE
 Soil and climatic conditions
• The physical, chemical and biological properties
of soil
• Fertilizer practices affect forage, chemical
composition.
• Tropical soils are generally low in nitrogen
deficiencies of other nutrients
• In highly weathered tropical soils forages have a
greater tendency to absorb large quantities of
silica which significantly depresses digestibility of
the herbage.
 Genotype
• Variations in chemical composition also arise as
a result of genetic diversity of forage plants.
• Legumes
• Grasses
 Toxic substances

• cyanogenetic glucosides, in Sorghum

• oxalic acid, Paspalum plicatulum
• amino acids, alkaloids,
• oestrogenic isoflavones
• Saponin.
• minosine. Leucaena leucocephala,
• stage of growth
• Frequency of cutting