Meat and milk production on irrigated birdsfoot trefoil pastures in the Mountain West USA

摘要

Irrigated hirdstbot trefoil (BFT; Lotus corniculatus L.) is productive, persistent perennial legume in the lountain West region of the United States of America BSA) (MacAdam and Griggs 2006). It does not cause Bit, even when grazed in pure stands, because it Dins a relatively small amount (2-4% of dry matter DM)) of condensed tannins (Mueller-Harvey 2006; Ifaghorn 2008). Birdsfoot trefoil tannins bind excess pot proteins at rumen pll (~ pi I 6.2) sufficiently to event bloat and then releasethese proteins into the omasum at gastric pH (~ pH 2.5). This allows plant boteins to be digested to amino acids that can be psorbed in the small intestines (Waghorn et al. 1987). Short-term increases in productivity have been demonstrated in beef cattle (Wen et al. 2002) and dairy lows (Woodward et al. 1999) grazing BFT, but few studies have looked at longer-term effects on commercial firms.