The composition and digestibility of Northern Irish ryegrass seed and ryegrass seed cleanings: II. Data for ‘flatweed’, ‘hairgrass‘, and commercial Yorkshire fog seed, with a note on inorganic constituents

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Abstract
1. Data for the composition and digestibility of certain by-products of the ryegrass seed cleaning industry are presented in amplification of data already published.2. It is shown that the ‘hairgrass’ fraction of ryegrass seed cleanings has a starch equivalent somewhat superior to that of pure ryegrass seed or oats, and that this may be ascribed in all probability to its content of ratstail fescue seed.3. It is shown that the ‘flatweed’ fraction, consisting chiefly of buttercup seed, has a starch equivalent, on a dry-matter basis, about three-quarters that of oats or pure ryegrass seed, and that it is, in spite of a relatively high content of digestible oil, among the least valuable constituents of the cleanings, apart from dust, straw and other worthless material.4. Commercial Yorkshire fog seed is shown to have a feeding value comparable to that of pure perennial ryegrass seed.5. Some data are presented regarding the inorganic constituents of ryegrass seed and ryegrass seed by-products.