Investigation on effects of phenological stages and species on forage quality of rangelands(Iran)

摘要

Forages are mainly used by livestock as a source of nutrition ; forage quality is defined as an expression of the characteristics that affect consumption, nutritive value, and the resulting animal performance.Many factors influence forage quality.The most important are forage species, and, stage of maturity at harvest.Secondary factors include soil fertility and fertilization, temperatures during forage growth, and variety.Among several factors, determinations of crude protein, digestible dry matter and metabolizable energy were considered more appropriate for evaluation range forage quality ( Minson, 1987; Garza and Fulbright,1988; Rhodes and Sharrow,1990).