A historic profile of endophyte-induced tall fescue toxicosis is presented. A chronology of events is presented, beginning with the importance of finding Balansia-infected grasses in a tall fescue pasture in north central Georgia. This initial finding was followed by the discovery that another related endophyte was present in tall fescue and other major forage grasses. This species of endophyte...

Drought severely limits forage productivity of C4 grasses across the tropics. The avoidance of water deficit by increasing the capacity for water uptake or by controlling water loss are common responses in forage C4 grasses. Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and Brachiaria hybrid cv. Mulato II are tropical C4 grasses used for livestock production due to their reputed resistance to drought con...

Rangeland management plan is one of the major means of management and utilization of rangelands in Iran. The formulation of these plans for the rangeland users should be studied from the ecological and socio-economic points of view. One of the main envisaged activities in almost all the management plans is the grazing system. An experiment was used to study the effects of three deferred grazing...

It is believed that wildlife and livestock can coexist in semiarid savanna rangelands. However, this coexistence is threatened by intense competition for scarce, but nutritionally vital, forage resources. Specifically, there is evidence that grazing livestock seasonally compete for protein-rich forbs (non-grasses) with browsing and mixed-feeding wildlife. While this has been attributed to prote...

The acid detergent lignin and Klason lignin methods were compared for their correlation with forage digestibility. Thirty-six forages, including C3 legumes and C3 and C4 grasses, were analyzed for sulfuric acid detergent lignin, Klason lignin, and in vitro digestibilities of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Twenty of these forages were also fed to lambs at restricted intake fo...

DURING the past few years, an extended study has been made in these laboratories of the chemistry of certain constituents of the forage grasses, the nitrogenous substances and the fats and waxes having received particular attention. Samples of a number of grasses of pure strain and known history being available, the opportunity was taken to examine the cell-wall substances of certain of these. ...

Tannins, a group of chemical compounds produced by a number of broadleaf forage plants, can bind proteins. Typically, grasses don’t contain tannins, although sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) has a significant tannin content. Tannins are often found in higher concentrations in broadleaf plants adapted to warm climates. For example, sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) is a forage cultivated in the mid...

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...