Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is used as medicinal plant in many Asian countries and has been reported to have forage quality similar to alfalfa. Fenugreek is an annual crop and may have the potential to diversify forage production systems in the central High Plains. This study evaluated forage dry matter (DM) production and the nutritive value of three fenugreek cultivars as influen...

The sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (Sorghum bicolor x S. sudanense) is an important forage crop. However, little is known about the genetic mechanisms related to forage yield and the 4 forage yield component traits in this forage crop. In this study, a linkage map was constructed with 124 assigned SSR markers using an F2 mapping population derived from the crossing of sorghum Tx623A and sudangrass S...

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of diet and monensin on performance, digestibility, and methane production in steers fed forage-based diets. In Exp. 1, 72 individually fed steers (300 ± 25 kg) were used in a randomized block design arranged as 2 separate 2 × 2 factorials with two common treatments, thus 6 diets were fed with 12 steers per treatment. Factors included hig...

Potential competition between native and domestic herbivores is a major consideration influencing the management and conservation of native herbivores in rangeland ecosystems. In grasslands of the North American Great Plains, black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are widely viewed as competitors with cattle but are also important for biodiversity conservation due to their role in cre...

The forage maturation hypothesis (FMH) proposes that ungulate migration is driven by selection for high forage quality. Because quality declines with plant maturation, but intake declines at low biomass, ungulates are predicted to select for intermediate forage biomass to maximize energy intake by following phenological gradients during the growing season. We tested the FMH in the Canadian Rock...

Understanding forage quality and the factors that affect its constituents will help improve livestock production by making decisions that optimize forage nutritive value and intake. This investigation was conducted in Zagros semi-arid rangeland center, Iran to determine forage quality of several grass and legume species. Samples were collected at early bloom, from 5 m long and 0.10 m wide strip...

An in situ study (Exp. 1) using 4 ruminally cannulated steers (343 ± 11 kg of BW) in a completely randomized design was used to compare ruminal degradation characteristics of low-quality cool-season (C3; Kentucky bluegrass straw; Poa pratensis; 6.3% CP; DM basis) and warm-season (C4; tallgrass prairie; 5.7% CP; DM basis) forage. Four ruminally cannulated steers (252 ± 8 kg of BW; Exp. 2) and 4 ...

In New Zealand, agriculture is predominantly based on pastoral grazing systems and animal excreta deposited on soil during grazing have been identified as a major source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Forage brassicas (Brassica spp.) have been increasingly used to improve lamb performance. Compared with conventional forage perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), a common forage in New Zealan...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the sulfur content of water and forage samples from a geographically diverse sample of beef cow-calf operations in the United States and to estimate frequency and distribution of premises where forage and water resources could result in consumption of hazardous amounts of sulfur by cattle. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SAMPLE POPULATION 709 forage samples from 678 beef ...

Inter-sexual segregation between habitats or between sites within a habitat is very widespread in sexually dimorphic ungulates. As an explanation, it has been suggested that males, because of their larger forage requirements, are driven from preferred, high quality forage habitats into marginal habitats of lower forage quality but higher forage biomass by female competition (`indirect competiti...