Daily changes in alfalfa forage quality

CAMBIOS DIARIOS EN LA CALIDAD DEL FORRAJE DE ALFALFA

Shewmaker, Glenn E. and Mayland, Hank (1999) Daily changes in alfalfa forage quality. pp. 68-73. In: Proc. 1999 California Alfalfa Symposium. USA-CA-Fresno, 1999/12/08-09.

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Abstract

Several studies are reviewed which relate the daily variation in total nonstructural carbohydrates
(TNC) to hay quality, implications for animal preference studies and hay tests, forage intake by
animals, and resulting animal production. From these results we conclude that TNC concentrations
in alfalfa can increase linearly during the day. Alfalfa forage samples taken for animal preference or
TNC analyses should be taken within lh to control daily variation within 5%. We estimate 136 (first
cutting) and 81 lbs TNC/ac (fourth cutting) increase by PM- versus AM-cutting. Increasing windrow
width in heavy hay from 48 to 60 in windrow allows for faster dry-down, however in light hay
increased windrow width is not necessary. The "super conditioner" may provide faster dry-down of
alfalfa hay in some conditions.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
NWISRL Publication Number:	0996
Subjects:	Irrigated crops > Alfalfa > Time-of-day harvest difference Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:57
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2016 17:52
Item ID:	1093
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1093