The Mineral Composition of Wild-Type and Cultivated Varieties of Pasture Species

Abstract

Mineral deficiencies in livestock are often prevented by using prophylactic supplementation, which is imprecise and inefficient. Instead, the trend for increased species diversity in swards is an opportunity to improve mineral concentrations in the basal diet. Currently, there are limited data on the mineral concentrations of different species and botanical groups, particularly for I and Se, which are among the most deficient minerals in livestock diets. We grew 21 pasture species, including some cultivar/wild type comparisons, of grasses, legumes and forbs, as single species stands in a pot study in a standard growth medium. Herbage concentrations of Co, Cu, I, Mn, Se, Zn, S, Mo and Fe showed no consistent differences between the wild and cultivated types. There were significant differences between botanical groups for many minerals tested. Forbs were highest in I and Se, grasses in Mn and legumes in Cu, Co, Zn and Fe. Comparing species concentrations to recommended livestock intakes, the forbs Achillea millefolium, Cichorium intybus and Plantago lanceolata, and the legumes Medicago lupulina, Trifolium hybridum and Lotus corniculatus, appear to be good sources of Co, Cu, I, Se and Zn. Further work is required to ensure these results are consistent in multispecies mixtures, in different soil types and in field trials.

Floristic Composition Mediates Change in Forage Nutritive Quality of Atlantic Mountain Grasslands after Experimental Grazing Exclusion

“…Moreover, dicots proportion mediated a significant part of the grazing effect on forage content in calcium (31%), but the significance of the effect of Simpson diversity index in potassium content was marginal. Our results agree with previous findings indicating that dicots are richer than grasses in minerals [29,30], which are essential to meet the nutritional requirements of grazing animals. The abundance of legumes and forbs also contributes to enhance the nutritive quality of milk produced by lactating ewes: it correlates with higher fat content, richer in α-linolenic acid and its biohydrogenation intermediates, as well as long-chain saturated branched-chain and cis-monounsaturated fatty acids [73,74].…”

“…Grazing may also affect forage quality indirectly, through changes in floristic composition (e.g., [10,26,27]). Non-selective shoot herbivory exerted by mixed livestock equalizes the ability of plant species to compete for light [28], thus allowing the co-existence of short-statured highly palatable legumes and nutrient-rich forbs [29,30], together with tall competitive grasses [31]. After grazing abandonment tall grasses tend to out compete remaining short-statured species [7,32], reducing forage quality and plant diversity altogether.…”

Influence of pendimethalin and hand weeding on mineral composition of maize, cowpea and their intercrop

“…The potassium content was found to be highest which was also found to be highest in the study carried out by Uduak (2018), on the mineral composition of two varieties of cowpea. The variation in the mineral composition in this study compared to other studies could be due to agronomical practices, soil compositions, and varietal differences (Darch et al, 2020;Tasie and Gebreyes, 2020).…”

Plantago media L.—Explored and Potential Applications of an Underutilized Plant

“…Another potential application of P. media, correlated with their metal up-take capacity could be in the improvement of mineral concentrations in the diet of livestock, to prevent the apparition of mineral deficiency, trough increasing species diversity in swards [ 107 ]. However, the hoary plantain affinity towards different metals could represent a drawback, as some studies [ 108 ] suggest a potential for P. media to up-take hazardous heavy metals.…”