1Department of Agronomy Sciences, Shahrekord University, P.O. Box 115, Shahrekord, Iran.
2Department of Plant Production, Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Plants, Ghent University-UGent, Coupure links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
3Department of Bioscience Engineering, Research Group of Plant Production and Stress Tolerance, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan, 171, 2020, Antwerpen, Belgium.
Plant development is a continuous process of a plant changing from one growth stage to another. This could be the development of tillers on a grass plant or flower buds on a forb or shrub. Information on the nutritive value of forage by phenological stage could help range managers choose suitable grazing times and stocking rates to achieve higher animal performance without damage to vegetation. The effect of phenological stage on nutritive properties of different forage parts of Astragalus effusus was investigated under laboratory conditions. The quality of each part of forage was monitored with chemical analysis, determining the value of crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), dry mater digestibility (DMD) and metabolized energy. Stage of phenology affected (P < 0.05) dry mater (DM), CP, NDF, ADF and DMD contents of forage parts. Maximum and minimum values of CP were observed in leaves in the first and third phenological stages, respectively (23.52% and 8.3%). Highest ADF was recorded from stems (45.63%) in third phenological stage and the minimum (30.33%) from leaves in the vegetative stage. Maximum NDF (66.3%) was obtained when plant growth was fully developed whereas the lowest NDF content was observed for leaves during vegetative stage. No significant was observed between DMD values neither at first and second growth stages nor among plant parts between the mentioned phenological stages. Growth progression in A. effusus had a profound effect on dry mater content.
Phenology stage, nutritive value, Astragalus effusus, native species
