the aim of this paper was to study of the effect of fenugreek seed (trigonella foenum-graecum) and asparagus root (asparagus officinalis) on in vitro digestibility and kinetics of gas production of alfalfa hay. fenugreek seed (fs) and asparagus root (ar) were added at different levels (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% of dm). total phenolic components of alfalfa hay (ah), fenugreek seed (fs) and asparagus ...

Two finishing trials and a metabolism trial were conducted to evaluate the effect of forage source and particle size in dry-rolled corn finishing diets. In Exp. 1, 224 crossbred yearling steers (BW = 342+/-11 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design consisting of seven treatments. Treatments were an all-concentrate diet or diets containing equal NDF levels provided by alfalfa hay or ...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the dietary value of pellets containing kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus cv. 'Everglade 41') hay. Averaged across both experiments, kenaf pellets contained 82.6% kenaf hay, 16.6% liquid molasses, and 0.8% mineral oil. The chemical composition of the kenaf pellet was 12.6% crude protein (CP), 41.2% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and 14.4% acid detergent fibe...

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the crude protein fractionation, in vitro gas production and the biological effects of tannins in alfalfa silage treated with different levels of pistachio by-products (PB) extract. PB was soaked in water with a ratio of 1:5 (w/v) for 12 h. After filtering and concentrating, the crude extract was added to fresh alfalfa to a final concentration of 1%, 2...

A study was conducted to evaluate effects of alfalfa meal on growth performance and gastrointestinal tract development of growing layer ducks to provide evidence for application of alfalfa meal in the duck industry. Two hundred and fifty-six healthy Shaoxing 7-wk old growing layer ducks were selected and randomly allocated to 1 of 4 dietary treatments based on corn and soybean meal and containi...

Alfalfa hay is a major crop supporting U.S ruminant livestock industry, particularly dairy. Several cellulosic feedstocks will be needed to meet current ethanol production goals. Alfalfa has considerable potential as a feedstock for production of ethanol and other industrial materials because of its high biomass production, perennial nature, ability to provide its own nitrogen fertilizer, and v...

Two finishing trials and a metabolism trial were conducted to evaluate the effect of forage source and particle size in dry-rolled corn finishing diets. In Exp. 1, 224 crossbred yearling steers (BW = 342 ± 11 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design consisting of seven treatments. Treatments were an all-concentrate diet or diets containing equal NDF levels provided by alfalfa hay or ...

Alfalfa is the most extensively cultivated forage legume, yet most alfalfa cultivars are not aluminum tolerant, and the molecular mechanisms underlying alfalfa responses to Al stress are largely unknown. In this study, we aimed to understand how alfalfa responds to Al stress by identifying and analyzing Al-stress-responsive genes in alfalfa roots at the whole-genome scale. The transcriptome cha...

Grazing alfalfa with dairy or beef animals is not a common practice in California or even in the United States. Although a limited number of alfalfa acres are grazed in the humid Midwest and East, it is rare in the West, and the ruminant alfalfa forage systems throughout the United States consist of hayand haylage-based harvest methods. However, there is increased interest in grazing in North A...

Eight single-flow, continuous culture fermentors were used in Exp. 1 to study the effects of forage source on ruminal bacterial N metabolism and carbohydrate digestion. Forages included alfalfa, cicer milkvetch, birdsfoot trefoil and sainfoin with respective CP concentrations of 26.0, 28.7, 26.3 and 20.0%. Each forage provided 100% of the substrate for microbial metabolism and supplied 2.6 g N/...