Chemical Composition and Digestibility of Flat Pea Forage in Three Stages of Maturity

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Six digestion experiments were conducted with sheep to determine the apparent digestibility of flat pea (Lathyrus sylvestris wagneri) forage at three stages of maturity when used as fresh green feed and as an artificially dried hay. The fresh and artificially dried materials were palatable and highly nutritious. Several losses of sheep during the first weeks of feeding indicate that caution should be used in feeding this forage until more comprehensive trials can be conducted to determine its possible toxicity. The fresh green forage contained on an average 29.6 percent digestible protein and 69.8 percent total digestible nutrients as compared with 26.0 percent and 67.3 percent, respectively, for the artificially dried forage. The fresh green flat pea in the early stage of maturity (pre-bloom) contained 34.26 percent digestible protein, the early bloom 30.17 percent, and in the late bloom 24.32 percent digestible protein. The total digestible nutrient content for the three stages of maturity was 74.94 percent, 68.86 percent, and 65.44 percent, respectively. The artificially dried flat pea had digestible protein contents of 30.72, 27.09 and 20.12 and a total digestible nutrient content of 73.47, 65.54 and 62.96, respectively for the three stages of maturity.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: