Determination of Nutritive Value of Seven Species of Alfalfa Weeds Using in vitro Techniques

Document Type : Ruminant Nutrition

Authors

• Malihe Dadashi ¹
• Ali Hossein khani ²
• Hamid Mohammadzadeh ³

¹ Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Ira

² Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

³ Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran

10.22067/ijasr.v10i2.62498

Abstract

Introduction: Weeds constantly invade crop fields and pastures. It is frequently assumed that weeds have low nutritive value and livestock will not eat weeds, so expensive and time consuming methods are often used for their control. Some weeds are toxic or poisonous for livestock, and certain weeds are unpalatable – causing a reduction in total intake. Weeds also compete with cultivated crops and forages for moisture, light, and nutrients, but many weeds are nutrient-rich and digestible. There are large numbers of weeds which are consumed by animals as forage. A study with geographic information system (GIS) in the east Azerbaijan province of Iran, showed that Bromus tectorum,Crepis sancta, Alopecurus myosuroides, Dactylis glomerata and Acroptilon repens were found in 77.8, 66.7, 67.7, 33.3 and 22.2 percent of alfalfa fields respectively. Based on this report only five species of the mentioned weeds consist of about 15 percent of total forages production area at the first cut of alfalfa fields which are harvested and used in the farms as livestock feed. Nonetheless, preliminary results suggest that weeds can play a significant role in livestock industry if their chemical composition and nutritional quality is well known. The main goal of present study was to evaluate nutritional value of seven common species of alfalfa field weeds using in vitro techniques.
Material and methods: Seven species of alfalfa field weeds including: Crepis sancta, Achillea millefolium and Acroptilon repens from family of Asteraceae, Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall. from family of Fabaceae and Bromus tectorum, Dactylis glomerata and Alopecurus myosuroides from family of poaceae were harvested from alfalfa field at 10 percent blooming. The samples were dried in 60° oven for 48 hours and grounded to pass through a 2-mm screen. Chemical composition of weeds was determined according to prescribed procedures of AOAC (2003). Neutral detergent finer (NDF) was measured by method of Van-Soest et al. 1991. Rumen fluid was obtained from three fistulated ghezel male lambs before morning feeding. The lambs were fed twice daily at maintenance level. Dry matter fermentation of each weed was determined using in vitro gas production technique. Potential of gas production, organic matter digestibility, small chain fatty acid production and net energy of lactation (NEl) were calculated from the results of gas production. In vitro disappearance of forages was measured.
Result and discussion: Alfalfa and Alopecurus myosuroides had the highest and lowest crude protein (CP) content respectively (14.3 vs 8.4 %) (P

Keywords

• Alfalfa field weeds
• chemical composition
• degradation
• in vitro digestibility

20.1001.1.20083106.1397.10.2.12.7

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