Effects of grass growth stage on metabolisable energy concentration of fresh grass

摘要

Fresh grass is the most important forage for ruminant animals across the world, whilst it is widely recognised that the nutritive value of fresh grass varies considerably with stage of growth.There is little information in the literature on the relationship between stage of growth and nutritive value within the same sward.The objective of the present study was to develop a prediction method for ME concentration of fresh grass from chemical composition.