Effect of Maturity Stages on Potential Nutritive Value of Vicia Cracca (L.) Hay

Abstract

The aim of the current experiment was to determine the effect of harvesting stage on the potential nutritive value. Vicia cracca plant was harvested at three maturity stages (before flowering, flowering and seeding). Vicia cracca plants were dried at 70 °C and grinded in a hand-mill with 1 mm sieve for chemical analysis. Crude protein, crude oil, crude ash, condensed tannin, acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) parameters were investigated as the chemical composition. Harvesting stage had a significant (p ≤ 0.01) effect on chemical composition. Dry matter, NDF and ADF contents were increased with advancing maturity whereas crude protein, crude oil, condensed tannin and crude ash contents were decreased. As a conclusion, the nutritive value of Vicia cracca plant decreased with increasing maturity. Vicia cracca hays harvested at three maturity stages were adequate in term of mineral content for ruminant. Therefore, the Vicia cracca plant can be harvested or grazed before flowering and flowering stages due to high crude protein, crude oil and low ADF and NDF.

Diversifying the utility and species composition of Nordic forage systems : new fractionation methods and novel legume species

“…Vicia cracca had consistently high aNDFom concentrations across all cuts, demonstrating a minimal impact of maturity stage on the species' aNDFom content (Figure 12B). The aNDFom concentrations observed in this study are comparable with values reported in other studies (Ciftci et al, 2021;Gürsoy, 2021). Vicia sepium, however, had low aNDFom concentrations in each harvest, further demonstrating its promising nutritive value.…”