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18.

GRASS AND FORAGE CROPS - grass growth is very rapid during a warm wet
season
18.1 PASTURES AND GRAZING ANIMALS
 STANDING HAY – feed resource left when
- the simplest pastures are those created by sowing
the soil dries out the herbage matures and
a single species of pasture plant, which may be a
dies
grass such as Italian ryegrass or a legume such as
lucerne (alfalfa) - Even in wetter conditions, plants in deep shade at
the base of the sward may die, thus giving senescent
 TEMPORARY PASTURES – pastures that
herbage of inferior nutritive value.
have limited life (1-4 yrs)
 PERMANENT PASTURES – normally - The rate at which grass grows is dependent
include grasses and legumes upon:
 NATURAL GRASSLANDS - have an even
1. Environment
greater spread of species, which will include
2. Nutrients available
herbs and shrubs (some of which may be
3. Amount of leaf within the sward that is
regarded as weeds)
intercepting light
 GRAMINEAE – grasses
 LEGUMINOSEAE – legumes - Immediately after harvesting there is a period of
slow regrowth, followed by an accelerated rate and
- The nutrition of the grazing animal is different finally a period of decreasing growth as the herbage
from that of housed livestock, for several reasons: matures.
1. Diet is variable - As grass swards increase in leaf area, the
2. The grazing animal is that it has to spend photosynthetic capacity of successive newly
time and energy in harvesting its food. expanded leaves is progressively reduced because
of the increasing shade in which they develop.
 PASTURE HERBAGE - is a food of high
nutritive value for ruminants - The rate at which regrowth occurs depends upon
o the nutritive value of herbage often the maturity of the crop at the time of harvesting.
falls far below its optimum;
- If the grass is young and leafy, it recovers more
o soil and climate may be unsuitable for
quickly and starts regrowth earlier than when
growing the most nutritious pasture
mature herbage is harvested.
plants, and the grazing management
system employed may fail to ensure CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
that herbage is consistently grazed at
the stage of growth when its nutritive - .The fibre content is related inversely to the crude
value is at its highest. protein content.

18.2 GRASSES - The moisture content of grass is of particular


importance when a crop is being harvested for
PATTERN OF GROWTH conservation; it is high in very young material and
falls as the plant matures.
- In cold and temperate climates, grass starts to grow
in the spring when soil temperatures reach 4–6 °C - The composition of the dry matter is dependent on
the relative proportions of cell walls and cell
- As the grass grows in the spring, the concentration
contents.
of DM in the crop increases, at first slowly and then
more rapidly as the stems grow and the ears emerge - The cell walls consist of cellulose and
and, finally, more slowly as the ears begin to ripen. hemicelluloses, reinforced with lignin
- In hot climates, soil temperature is likely to be high - The cell contents include the water-soluble
enough to allow grass growth throughout the year, carbohydrates and much of the protein.
but growth is commonly restricted by lack of
water.
- WATER-SOLUBLE CARBOHYDRATES OF - The main components of the non-protein nitrogen
GRASSES: fraction are amino acids, and amides such as
glutamine and asparagine, which are concerned in
1. Fructans
protein synthesis; nitrates may also be present, and
2. Glucose these may be toxic for grazing animals.
3. Fructose
4. Sucrose Lipid content of grasses
5. Raffinose
6. Stachyose - triacylglycerols, glycolipids, waxes, phospholipids
and sterols

 TRIACYLGLYCEROLS - occur only in small


 TEMPERATE GRASSES - the storage amounts and the major components are
carbohydrate fructan is the most abundant of galactolipids, which constitute about 60 per
the soluble carbohydrates and is found cent of the total lipid content.
mainly in the stem,  ALPHA-LINOLENIC ACID – most abundant
 TROPICAL & SUBTROPICAL GRASSES – fatty acid (50%)
accumulate starches (instead of fructans) in o important in animal nutrition because
their vegetative tissues and these are stored it is the precursor of longer-chain
primarily in the leaves. polyunsaturated acids, which in
human nutrition are regarded as
Protein content of grasses
being beneficial to health
- Proteins are the main nitrogenous compounds in
Mineral content of pasture
herbage, with true protein accounting for about 80
per cent of total nitrogen - variable; depending upon the species, stage of
growth, soil type, cultivation conditions and fertiliser
- the total protein content decreases with maturity,
application
the relative proportions of amino acids do not alter
greatly. Vitamin content of pasture
- the amino acid composition of proteins varies little  GREEN HERBAGE - an exceptionally rich
among grass species source of β-carotene, a precursor of vitamin
A
 RIBULOSE BIPHOSPHATE
o Herbage of this type supplies about
CARBOXYLASE
100 times the vitamin A requirement
o half of the cellular protein in grasses
of a grazing cow when eaten in
is in the form of this single enzyme
normal quantities.
o plays an important role in the
 GREEN FORAGE CROPS - good sources of
photosynthetic fixation of carbon
vitamin E and of many of the B vitamins,
dioxide
especially riboflavin.
- Grass proteins are particularly rich in the amino  VIT D - growing plants do not contain this
acid arginine and also contain appreciable amounts vitamin
of glutamic acid and lysine. o The greater vitamin D content of
mature herbage than of young
 METHIONINE – first limiting a.a for growth material may be caused in part by the
 ISOLEUCINE – second limiting a.a for presence of dead leaves in which
growth vitamin D2 has been produced from
- protein contents of tropical grasses tend to be lower irradiated ergosterol.
than those of temperate species.
- the most important characteristics of forage
proteins are their rumen degradability and their
overall digestibility
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE NUTRITIVE 2. Species
VALUE OF HERBAGE
 GRAMINEAE - form a very large family that
1. Stage of Growth has been subdivided into 28 tribes
- most important factor influencing the composition - In temperate areas with a reasonably uniform
and nutritive value of pasture herbage distribution of rainfall:
- As plants grow there is a greater need for fibrous  grasses grow and mature relatively slowly
tissues to maintain their structure, and therefore the and thus can be utilised at an early stage of
main structural carbohydrates (cellulose and growth when their nutritive value is high.
hemicelluloses) and lignin increase, and the
concentration of protein decreases - In warmer climates:

- inverse relationship between the protein and fibre  grasses mature more rapidly, their protein
contents and phosphorus contents falling to very low
levels, and their fibre content rising
 PERENNIAL RYE GRASS (Lolium
perenne) - In the wet tropics:
 PURPLE MOOR GRASS (Molinea  the herbage available is commonly fibrous
caerulea) but lush
- The total ash content decreases as the plant - in drier areas:
matures.
 the mature herbage becomes desiccated
- This is reflected in the calcium content, which and is grazed as ‘standing hay’
follows a similar pattern to that of the total ash in
grasses. - Anatomy of leaves:

- The magnesium content is generally high in the  tropical grasses: there are more vascular
early spring but falls off sharply; during the summer bundles and thick-walled bundle sheaths,
it rises, reaching high values in the autumn. and hence more lignin and in the central
tissue of the leaf the mesophyll cells are
 PLANT ANATOMY - basic determinant of more densely packed than those in
forage digestibility temperate grasses.
o Plant cell contents, being mainly
soluble carbohydrates and proteins, Soils, fertilisers and weather
are almost completely digestible, but
- The type of soil may influence the composition of
cell walls vary in digestibility
the pasture, especially its mineral content.
according to their degree of
reinforcement with lignin. - Plants normally react to a mineral deficiency in the
soil either by a) limiting their growth or by b)
- digestibility decreases as plants increase in
reducing the concentration of the element in
maturity.
their tissues, or more usually by both.
 PLATEAU – period where the relationship is
- The most common mineral deficiencies of grass
complicated by there being a spring period of
herbage are those of phosphorus, magnesium,
up to a month during which the herbage
copper and cobalt.
digestibility remains fairly constant.
- The acidity of the soil is an important factor that
- Digestibility of grasses is also influenced by
can influence, in particular, the uptake of many trace
leaf/stem ratios.
elements by plants.
- As plants mature, the stem comprises an
 Mn and Co - poorly absorbed by plants from
increasing proportion of the total herbage and hence
calcareous soils
has a much greater influence on the digestibility of
 Mo - low molybdenum levels of herbage are
the whole plant than the leaf.
usually associated with acid soils
 TEART - induced copper deficiency; uptake of ammonia, with consequent
associated with high herbage molybdenum energy costs of urea synthesis
levels, generally occurs on pasture grown on
NUTRITIONAL DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH
soils derived from Lower Lias clay or
GRASSES
limestone
Nitrate poisoning
- Liberal dressings of fertilisers can markedly affect
the mineral content of plants; it is also known that the - nitrate can accumulate in grasses.
application of nitrogenous fertilisers increases leaf
area and rate of photosynthesis. As a consequence, - The toxic effect in ruminants is caused by the
the crude protein content, and frequently the amide reduction of nitrate to nitrite in the rumen.
and nitrate contents, are increased.  NITRITE - oxidises the ferrous iron of
- Application of nitrogenous fertilisers also haemoglobin to the ferric state, producing a
depresses the water-soluble carbohydrate content brown pigment, methaemoglobin, which is
of temperate grasses, which may have an adverse incapable of transporting oxygen to the body
effect on fermentation if the crop is preserved as tissues.
silage. - Toxic signs include trembling, staggering, rapid
- Such factors as climate and season may influence respiration and death.
the nutritive value of pasture. The concentration of - Cereal grasses, maize and weeds such as thistles
sugars and fructans, for example, can be influenced and docks may also contain toxic concentrations of
markedly by the amount of sunshine received by the nitrate.
plant.
Mycotoxicoses
3. Grazing system
 MYCOTOXINS – substances produced
 ROTATIONAL GRAZING SYSTEMS - when grasses are invaded by fungi
pastures are grazed for short periods at a  RYEGRASS STAGGERS – condition that
high stocking rate and grazing pressure; occurs in ruminants and horses grazing
animals harvest most of the herbage on offer, perennial ryegrass.
and the pastures are then rested for longer
o Affected animals are uncoordinated
periods of recovery and may collapse, although mortality
 ZERO GRAZING - grass may be cut by is low.
machine and transported to housed animals. o Acremonium loliae – endophytic
o allows greater control over the diet of fungus involved.
grass-fed livestock. o produces the neurotoxic alkaloid
4. Nutrient balance lolitrem B.
 PASPALUM STAGGERS - associated with
3 MAJOR GROUPS OF NUTRIENTS IN the Paspalum (tropical pasture plant)
GRASSES: o Claviceps paspali – fungus
1. Protein involved; related to the ergot fungus
2. Fiber – high fiber, low digestibility and energy o Toxins – Paspalinine and
value Paspalitrem A and B
3. Soluble Carbohydrates – high contents of  FESCUE FOOT - in which grazing animals
water-soluble carbs are rapidly fermented in become lame and develop gangrene at their
the rumen and may depress the ph, reduce extremities owing to vasoconstriction
fiber digestion (high solu. carb, low fiber o Acremonium coenophialum -
digestion) infects the grass tall fescue; produces
 low contents of these carbohydrates ergovaline
reduce microbial protein synthesis in o ERGOVALINE – causes fescue foot
the rumen, leading to an increased  FACIAL ECZEMA - causes liver damage in
grazing animals, which leads to the release
into the circulation of bile and the chlorophyll
breakdown product phylloerythrin. These o occurs in pastures, but like many
compounds cause jaundice and other legumes it is more commonly
photosensitisation of the skin. grown on its own.
o Pithomyces chartarum – fungus o found in warm temperate areas and
that produces sporidesmin; grows in in many tropical and subtropical
the pasture litter. countries
o SPORIDESMIN – mycotoxin o protein content is comparatively high
and declines only slowly with maturity
Grass sickness
 BERSEEM / EGYPTIAN CLOVER
 EQUINE DYSAUTONOMIA – scientific (Trifolium alexandrinum)
name; o an important legume grown in the
o Horses grazing pasture after a dry Mediterranean area and India.
period can develop this condition o It is valued for its rapid growth in the
o characterised by muscular tremors, cooler winter season in the subtropics
difficulty or inability in swallowing, and for its good recovery after cutting
regurgitation of stomach contents, or grazing.
abnormal stance, impaction of the o It has a nutritive value very similar to
colon and loss of weight. that of lucerne.
o CAUSE – not known; however,  SAINFOIN (Onobrychis viciifolia)
BOTULINUM TOXIN is involved. o a legume of less economic
o Clostridium botulinum type C – importance than Lucerne
produces botulinum toxin. o the leaf is richer than the stem in
crude protein, ether extract and
18.3 LEGUMES minerals, especially calcium.
PASTURE AND FIELD CROP LEGUMES  PEAS (Pisum sativum), BEANS (Vicia
faba), VETCHES (Vicia sativa)
 FAMILY LEGUMINOSEAE - contains about o grown as green fodder crops.
18000 species, which are valued for their o When cut at the early flowering stage,
ability to grow in a symbiotic relationship with they are similar in nutritive value to
nitrogen-fixing bacteria and for their drought other legumes.
resistance.
 CLOVERS (Trifolium spp.) – most common LEGUMINOUS TREES AND SHRUBS
legumes found in pastures
o Red Clover (T. pretense) - Animals grazing mature grass pastures are often
o White Clover ( T. repens) able to supplement their diet by consuming the
o Subterranean Clover (T. foliage of trees and shrubs, many of which are
subterraneum) legumes.

- the clovers are superior to grasses in protein and  BROWSE - collective term applied to food
mineral content (particularly calcium, phosphorus, obtained in this way.
magnesium, copper and cobalt), and their nutritive  LEUCAENA (Leucaena leucocephala)
value falls less with age. o one of the best-known browse
- sugars present in clover: species
o also known as ipil-ipil
 SUCROSE – main sugar foun in clovers o a valuable source of protein and
 FRUCTANS – absent minerals and is also rich in β-
 STARCH – present carotene.
o it also contains the toxic amino acid
- tropical legumes are similar anatomically to mimosine
temperate legumes, they differ much less in
digestibility than do tropical and temperate grasses

 LUCERNE / ALFALFA (Medicago sativa)


CONDENSED TANNINS IN LEGUMES 3. OESTROGENIC ACTIVITY
o a large number of species of plants
- Many legumes, especially the browse species, are known to contain compounds that
contain appreciable concentrations of condensed have oestrogenic activity
(i.e. non-hydrolysable) tannins whose role in o Pasture plants containing these
nutrition is problematical. phytoestrogens are mainly of the
species Trifolium subterraneum
- Low to moderate concentrations precipitate soluble (subterranean clover), T. pratense
plant proteins and thus protect them against (red clover), Medicago sativa
degradation in the rumen, but if the proteins are too (lucerne) and M. truncatula (barrel
firmly bound to the tannins they are not digested in medic).
the small intestine. o oestrogens in Trifolium sp. are mainly
isoflavones, whereas those in
- lower levels of condensed tannins, found typically Medicago sp. are usually
in some pasture legumes such as sainfoin and coumestans.
birdsfoot trefoil, are considered to be beneficial to o Naturally occurring isoflavones and
ruminants. coumestans have relatively weak
oestrogenic activity, but this activity
NUTRITIONAL DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH
can be increased as a result of
LEGUMES
metabolism in the rumen.
1. BLOAT o FORMONONETIN - main isoflavone
o frequently encountered in cattle and in subterranean clover
sheep grazing on legume dominated o consumption of oestrogenic pasture
pastures plants by sheep leads to severe
o the most serious problems are infertility and postnatal death in
associated with clovers and lambs.
lucerne. o main cause of the infertility is a cystic
o primary cause of bloat is the retention glandular hyperplasia of the uterus,
of the fermentation gases in a stable which causes an increased flow of
foam (frothy bloat), preventing their mucus and hence poor sperm
elimination by eructation penetration to the oviduct
o SOLUBLE LEAF PROTEINS - 4. MIMOSINE
thought to play the major role in the o Toxic amino acid from leucaena
formation of the foam o In the rumen this is converted to
o Frothy bloat can be treated by dihydroxypyridine (DHP), a
administration of vegetable oils or compound with goitrogenic
chemical surfactants. properties.
2. REDGUT o Ruminants consuming large
o is a sudden death syndrome quantities of leucaena may suffer
associated with grazing sheep on weight loss, thyroid dysfunction and
pure lucerne loss of hair or wool (alopecia)
o thought to be caused by the rapid
18. 4 OTHER FORAGES
passage of highly digestible forage
through the rumen that causes CEREALS
increased fermentation in the large
intestine - Cereals are sometimes grown as green forage
o the incidence was reduced when the crops, either alone or mixed with legumes.
lucerne was supplemented with
meadow hay - Like the grain, the forage is rich in carbohydrate
and low in protein, its nutritive value depending
mainly on the stage of growth when harvested.
- At the time of ear formation, the concentration of Cabbages (B. oleracea, var. capitata)
crude fibre falls as a result of the great increase in
starch, which tends to maintain the digestibility - grown for both human and animal consumption and
value. range in type from open-leaved to drumhead.

SUGARCANE (Saccharum officinarum) - All have a low proportion of stem and hence are
less fibrous than either kales or rapes.
- a tropical or subtropical perennial grass that grows
to a height of 4.5–6.0 m or more Toxicity of brassica forage crops

- The crop is processed for its sugar, which leaves - all brassicas contain goitrogenic substances
two by-products: a) molasses and b) bagasse.
 THIOCYANATE
 BAGASSE – fibrous residue; high-fibre, o In forage crops
lowprotein product of very low digestibility o interferes with the uptake of iodine by
that is sometimes mixed with the cane the thyroid gland and whose effects
molasses for cattle feeding. can be overcome by increasing the
 SUGARCANE MOLASSES - is a high- iodine content of the diet.
energy, low-protein food similar in o May develop goiter; lambs may be
composition to the molasses obtained as a born dead or deformed
by-product from sugar beet.  FORAGE BRASSICAS
o may also cause a haemolytic
BRASSICAS anaemia in ruminants
 HAEMOGLOBINURIA
 BRASSICA – genus; a comprises some 40 o Hemoglobin appears in urine
species, of which the following are of
agricultural importance: kales, cabbages, GREEN TOPS
rapes, turnips and swedes
o are grown primarily as root crops - Mangel, fodder beet, sugar beet, turnip and swede
tops may all be used for feeding farm animals
Kales (Brassica oleracea)
- Care is required when feeding with mangel, fodder
- kales include a very wide variety of plant types, and sugar beet tops, since they contain a toxic
which range from short leafy plants 30 cm high, to ingredient that may lead to extensive scouring and
types 2 m tall with stems strong enough to be used distress and, in extreme cases, death
in building.
- The toxicity has been attributed to oxalic acid and
 THOUSANDHEAD KALE (var, fruticosa) its salts, which are supposed to be reduced or
o Most common short type removed by wilting.
 MARROWSTEM KALE (var, acephala)
o Most common tall type
o Also known as chou moelier

- grown in temperate parts of the world to provide


green fodder during winter, but in drier areas they
may also be used to supplement summer grazing.

- The woody stems of marrowstem kale are lower in


digestibility than the rest of the plant and may be
rejected by animals.

Rapes

 SWEDE-RAPES – rapes grown in Britain

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