Factors affecting forage

quality
 Forage quality

 Defined as the extent to which a forage has the potential to produce

desired animal response
Factors
 Forage species, stage of maturity at harvest, harvesting and storage
methods
 Soil fertility, soil fertilization, temperature during forage growth and
variety
Legumes vs grasses
 Highly quality forage than grasses because legumes usually
have less fiber and favor higher intake than grasses

 Most significant quality of growing legumes with grasses is

improvement of forage quality

 Grass forages has higher NDF level and slow rate of fiber
digestion result in lower voluntary intake compare with legumes

 Faster digestion allows more consumed

Cool season vs warm season
grasses
 Two categories: cool season( adapted to temperate region)
and warm season( adapted to tropical and subtropical
region)
 Cool are higher in quality than warm
 Digestibility of cool species average 9% higher than warm
 Minimum CP level of warm lower than cool
Temperature
 Higher temperature produce lower quality forage

 Cool species grow cooler months of the year

 Forage quality tends to be lower in quality if produced in

warm region rather than those of cool region
 Maturity stage
 Maturity at harvest is the most important factor determining the
forage quality
 Forage quality decline advancing maturity
 Maturity at harvest also influences forage consumption by
animals
 As the plant mature, the more fiber and forage intake drops
dramatically
 Intake decrease and NDF concentration increase as plant age
 Digestion slow dramatically as the forage become more mature
Leaf to stem ratio
 Leaves are higher in quality than stems

 Proportion of leaves in forage decline as the plant mature

Grass – Legume mixtures

Generally has higher CP concentration and lower fiber

concentration than pure grass stands
Fertilization
 Fertilization of grass with nitrogen often substantially
increase yield and also increase CP level of forage
Variety effects
 There are many examples of plant breeding improving forage
quality

 Some silage corn varieties have higher grain content and

stover digestibility than other
Harvesting and storage effects
 Leaf shatter, plant respiration, leaching by rainfall during hay
drying can reduce forage quality, particularly with legumes

 Moderate rain damage reduced alfalfa CP levels slightly and

digestibility dramatically , but NDF and ADF increase

 Total CP dose not increase, % of CP in remaining all dry

matter higher due to leaching of highly constituents