SUMMARYMeasurements were made of the recovery and germination rates of seed of eight species of annual medic (Medicago spp.) and three of clover (Trifolium spp.) after ingestion by sheep. Recovery of medic seed was measured as the number of seeds collected from faeces after feeding, in addition to a basal diet, either (i) 200 g of pods at a single meal, or (ii) a quantity of pods estimated to contain 30000 seeds at a single meal or (iii) 200 g of pods daily for 21 days. Only the first method was applied to the clovers.There were large differences (P < 0·001) in seed recovery between species, from < 2% to nearly 20% in medics, and up to 59% in T. campestre, which has low single-seed mass. Although there was a curvilinear decrease in seed recovery as single-seed mass increased (r2 = 0·80), the high recovery of M. rotata, a fairly large-seeded species, suggests that there are important differences between species, irrespective of seed size.When 200 g of medic pods was offered to sheep at a single meal, mean seed recovery was slightly lower than when 200 g of medic pods was offered daily for 21 days. Seed recovery of medics was much higher (P < 0·001) when 30000 seeds were offered at one meal.Germination rate before ingestion was 1·9–6·5% (P < 0·001) for hard-seeded medics and 2·7–9·7% (P < 0·001) for clovers with low single-seed mass; passage through the digestive tract increased (P < 0·001) germination rate in both medics and clovers.

Barley straw constitutes up to half of the dry-matter intake of Awassi sheep in areas of Syria where the rainfall is 200 to 350 mm. The genotype of barley planted could therefore, through the nutritive value of its straw, significantly affect flock production levels. Selection of suitable barley genotypes may have greater economic potential as a means of improving roughage feeding quality in these areas than chemical or physical processing.The voluntary intake and digestibility of the unsupplemented straw of three genotypes of barley was evaluated with Awassi castrated male sheep. The voluntary organic-matter (OM) intakes of handharvested Beecher, Arabic Abied and ER/Apam straw were 22-2, 34-7 and 27-0 g/kg M" 75 per day and OM digestibility coefficients were 0-39, 0-44 and 0-42. The factors affecting voluntary intake and digestibility appeared to be the proportions of leaf and stem. Beecher straw had less leaf and more stem than the other two genotypes. The chemical composition and in vitro cellulase digestibility of the leaf indicated that it had a higher potential feeding value than stem.ER/Apam appears to be an example of a genotype which under dry environmental conditions combines higher barley grain yields with more acceptable straw feeding value than several other genotypes evaluated.

Over a period of seven years farmers participated in trials in which common vetch (Vicia sativa (V)) or chickling (Lathyrus sativus (C)) replaced the fallow in a barley (Hordeum vulgare)±fallow rotation (F) or were introduced into continuous barley cropping (B) ± giving a total of four rotations, B±F, B±B, B±V and B±C. Trials on 4 ha, 2 ha per phase of each rotation, were replicated on 6±8 farms. Some vetch and chickling crops were grazed in spring. Mean seven-year dry matter yields were 2.91 t ha 71 for B±F, 4.82 t for B±B, 5.02 t for B±C and 5.32 t for B±V; total crude protein outputs were twice as high from rotations including legumes; and the B±V rotation yielded most metabolizable energy. Realizing the bene®t, farmers started to adopt vetch. In 1991 three farmers were growing vetch on 7 ha but by 1997 174 farmers in 15 villages were growing vetch on 420 ha. Forage legumes will not, however, become more widely grown until inexpensive and ecient mechanized methods of harvesting the mature crop are available in order to avoid the high cost of hand labour. Drought and cold tolerance, early maturation and high harvest index may also enhance farmers' interest in forage legumes.

The nutritive value and yield of forage legumes and barley harvested as immature herbage, hay and straw were measured in two experiments. The voluntary feed intake of peas at all stages of maturity and immature herbage from woollypod vetch was substantially lower than that of common vetch and chickling. At each stage of maturity barley was less digestible than all the forages except immature peas. Despite exceptionally cold weather in February/March 1985, yields of common vetch were higher in 1984/85 than in 1985/86 when there was less rain. Peas yielded the most hay, and chickling yielded less seed and straw than common vetch, peas and barley. Yields of digestible dry matter from straw and seed exceeded those from hay but protein yield at the two stages was similar. Mechanical baling substantially reduced the yields of baled hay but these losses would be reduced to less than 10% if the residues were grazed. E. F. Thomson, S. Rihawi y N. Nersoyan: Valor nutritivo y rendimientos de algunas leguminosas forrajeras y la cebada cosechados como herbaje inmaduro, heno y paja en al noroeste de Stria.R E S U M E N Se realizaron dos experimentos para medir el valor nutritivo y el rendimiento de las leguminosas forrajeras y la cebada cosechados como herbaje, heno y paja. La toma de alimento voluntaria de las arvejas en todas las etapas de madurez y el herbaje inmaduro de veza de vaina lanuda fue bastante inferior a la de la veza comun y la guija. En cada etapa de madurez, la cebada resulto menos digerible que todos los forrajes salvo las arvejas inmaduras. A pesar de un clima de excepcional fri'o en febrero/marzo de 1985, los rendimientos de la veza comun fueron superiores en 1984/85 a los correspondientes a 1985/86, cuando hubo menos precipitaciones. Las arvejas produjeron la mayor cantidad de heno, y la guija produjo menos semilla y paja que la veza comun, la arveja y la cebada. Los rendimientos de materia seca digerible en las dos etapas fueron similares. El prensado mecanico redujo considerablemente los rendimientos del heno prensado pero estas perdidas se reduciri'an a menos del 10% si se pastaran los residuos.

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