Volatiles from fresh and air-dried vegetative tissues of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.): Relationship to cattle preference

Mayland, Henry F. and Flath, Robert A. and Shewmaker, Glenn E. (1997) Volatiles from fresh and air-dried vegetative tissues of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.): Relationship to cattle preference. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 45(6):2204-2210.

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Abstract

Volatiles from fresh and air-dried forage of eight tall fescue cultivars were collected on Tenax-TA
adsorbent and then examined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and GC/flame
ionization detector chromatography (GC/FID). Fifty of 52 compounds emitted from fresh forage
and 99 of 103 emitted from hay were identified. The same compounds were common to all cultivars,
and quantitative differences, within fresh forage or hay, were not dramatic. Fresh forage yielded
12-32 pg/L of volatiles, while dry forage yielded 0.18-0.47 µg/L. (Z)-3-Hexenyl acetate made up
82% of total emissions from fresh forage but only 0.24% from hay. Green-leaf odor compounds
made up 11% in fresh forage and 6% in hay. Previously determined grazing preferences by cattle
were related positively to 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one and negatively to (Z)-3-hexenyl propionate and
acetic acid, which together made up <0.2% of volatiles from fresh forage.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0943
Subjects:	Animal > Feed preference Irrigated crops > Grass forage > Animal preference Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:54
Last Modified:	21 Nov 2016 20:39
Item ID:	680
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/680