Quantifying the nutritional quality of forage fish is integral for understanding upper trophic levels as forage fish are the dominant prey for top predator fish, marine mammals, and sea birds. Many existing reports documenting body composition of forage species are not comparable due to confounding effects. This study systematically assessed the variability in proximate composition and energy c...

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in brown midrib (BMR) sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.) · sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense Piper) hybrids (SxS) as a replacement for silage corn (Zea mays L.) in the north-eastern USA. Recent studies suggest it is suitable for both rotational grazing and as a hay crop and could compete with corn harvested for silage in years when wet spring c...

Improvement in stress tolerance of forage and turf grasses is a major breeding goal. Most forage and some turf grasses are grown on marginal lands under stressful environments with minimal inputs. In contrast, current high-input turf grass production systems such as golf courses and lawns are expensive and often environmentally unfriendly. Cultivars with improved stress tolerance are necessary ...

Forage is one of the main products of rangeland ecosystems, which is threatened by different anthropogenic disturbances. This study was conducted to assess the impact of urbanization, rural development, agriculture extension, road construction and industry on forage production in an arid and semiarid rangeland using InVEST habitat quality model in spring 2018. In 14 rangeland types, thirty 2×1m...

Birdsfoot trefoil is a high-quality forage recommended for irrigated perennial pastures, either in mixtures with grasses or in pure stands. In this bulletin we report on the forage nutritive value of pure stands of birdsfoot trefoil harvested at 6week intervals, and compare it to alfalfa harvested at the same intervals. We found that the digestibility of the two forages was similar, but that al...

%Moisture & %Dry Matter Labs determine the %moisture content of submitted samples by drying the sample, and calculate the %dry matter; (DM% = 100 %moisture). Most lab analysis reports list test values on both the basis of %Dry Matter, and “As Fed”, “As Is” or “As Received.” Forage nutritive values should be evaluated, and rations balanced on a dry matter basis. Once the forage needs have been d...

Background The United States beef cattle industry has increased in value by 32% from 2002 to 2011 and is presently estimated to be worth $79 billion dollars (USDA, 2013). As livestock demand and production continue to rise, there is a greater need for increased forage production and improved forage quality. Missouri ranks second in the number of cows in the United States (USDA, 2014). Forage pr...

field trials. The use of row-column analysis or neighbor analysis has been shown to increase the precision of a Spatial analyses of yield trials are a powerful method of adjusting large number of grain yield trials (Cullis and Gleeson, treatment means for spatial variation and improving statistical precision of mean estimation. Because yield trials are typically repeated 1989; Cullis and Gleeso...

Corn silage serves as a high-energy forage for dairy cows. This is most important for high-producing herds and on farms experiencing problems with making or buying highquality hay crop forage. Corn silage, with its relatively highenergy content, is also well adapted for use in low-cost rations for fattening cattle. Corn silage requires less labor per ton to produce than many other forage crops....