Effect of stage of growth of alfalfa on the incidence of bloat in cattle

Abstract

. Effect of stage of growth of alfalfa on the incidence of bloat in cattle. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 80: 725-727. Alfalfa of different maturities was produced simultaneously by varying the timing of the first cut. Groups of fistulated steers were confined and simultaneously fed alfalfa herbage at three stages of growth once a day. More bloat occurred during the vegetative stage of growth, it declined during bud development, and it was absent during bloom. This pattern occurred with both the number of cases of bloat and with the severity of bloat, which was much greater during the vegetative stage. Feed quality components also varied significantly between stages as did the leaf:stem ratio. Nous avons obtenu simultanément, de l'herbage de luzerne de différents stades de croissance en manipulant les dates de la première récolte. Des groupes de bouvillons fistulisés élevés en claustration recevaient en même temps une fois par jour de l'herbe de luzerne coupée à trois stades de pré-cocité. Les cas de météorisme les plus fréquents correspondaient à la consommation de luzerne au stade végétatif, ils diminuaient quand la récolte était au stade du bouton et disparaissaient complètement avec le stade de floraison. Ce comportement s'appliquait aussi bien au nombre de cas de météorisme qu'à leur degré de gravité, lequel était beaucoup plus élevé au stade végétatif de la culture. Les composantes nutritionnelles du fourrage, ainsi que le rapport feuille : tige, manifestaient également des variations significatives selon le stade de croissance.

The Productivity and Quality of Alfalfa (<em>Medicago sativa</em> L.) in Romanian Forest Steppe

“…Thus, if the plants are harvested at full flowering, the production will consist only of stems, inflorescences and only a few floors of leaves. Orloff et al (1997), Sheaffer et al (2000), Thompson et al (2000), Jung and Engels (2002), Overman and Scholtz (2005), showed the same tendency.…”

“…0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.6 0.4 CP -crude protein; NDF -neutral detergent fiber; ADF -acid detergent fiber; DM -dry matter º(-) and *(+) -Significant at the 0.05 probability level ºº(-) and **(+) -Significant at the 0.01 probability level With the advancement of vegetation, the content of crude protein in plants, leaves and stems of alfalfa constantly decreased (Table 2). This aspect was also highlighted by other studies (Alibés et al, 1991;Kaiser and Combs, 1989;Marković et al, 2007;Sheaffer, 1990;Sheaffer et al, 1995;Thompson et al 2000;Yu et al, 2003).…”

“…4) content in leaves barely changed with vegetation advancement, the percentage of both NDF and ADF in the stems and the whole plant increased constantly, due to a rising quantity of stems. Most research (Hakl et al, 2010;Mehrdad et al, 2004;Mueller, 1994;Overman and Scholtz, 2005;Thompson et al, 2000) showed that the rising percentage of stems has an increasingly higher influence on the NDF and ADF content in alfalfa plants.…”

Effect of grazing mixtures of alfalfa and orchardgrass grown in strips on the incidence of bloat in cattle

“…However, the potential economic impact of pasture bloat was not considered in the study of Rutter et al (2004), nor did the authors report on the stage of growth of the white clover or its nutrient quality. The latter are generally accepted as critical factors in the etiology of frothy bloat induced by alfalfa (Thompson et al 2000;Mayland et al 2007), and white clover is known to cause bloat (McArther and Miltimore 1969). The potential occurrence of bloat has limited the widespread utilization of grass-legume grazing systems containing more than 30% alfalfa.…”

Efficacy of Alfasure™ for the prevention and treatment of alfalfa bloat in cattle

“…Each period of the crossover trial continued until the sum of the cases of bloat from the two groups reached a minimum of 24 (Majak et al 1995). The incidence of bloat was increased by grazing alfalfa at the vegetative to bud stage of growth (Thompson et al 2000) and by limiting the daily grazing period to 6 h (0800 to 1400) (Majak et al 1995). Animals were cared for under the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care.…”