Comparison of Cultivated and Wild Relatives of Several Forage Species in Mixed Rangeland Based on Some Nutritional Characteristics

Abstract

Cultivated forage species may have higher nutrients contents (NC) and forage quality indicators (FQI) than their wild relatives. Nine forage samples collected five times from a mixed rangeland and an experimental field during two consecutive years was analysed for ash, crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and neutral detergent (NDF) and acid detergent (ADF) fibres. Then, their FQI such as digestible dry matter (DDM), dry matter intake (DMI), metabolizable energy (ME) and relative forage quality (RFQ) were calculated. Data were performed in a linear model with fixed effects (forage plant type [PT] and species [PS]) to NC and FQI, and subjected to hierarchical two-way clustering analysis. Cultivated and wilds relatives varied in CP (12.0-18.9% and 8.8-23.3%), ADF (20.9-33.1% and 39.3-73.5%) and NDF (37.2-61.6% and 26.7-46.1%) contents and ME (8.7-9.7 MJ kg-1 DM and 7.0-9.6 MJ kg-1 DM) and RFQ (98.8-186.7 and 74.6-161.7) values. There were interactions between PT and PS for all NC and FQI, except for CP and EE contents. In general, the CP, EE, ADF, ME and RFQ of cultivars were higher, whereas NDF was lower than those of the wilds. The most notable differences (NDF, ADF and RFQ) between the PT represented the differences in nutritional traits based on the clustering analysis. The cultivated and wilds relatives are comprised of NC and FQI that respond differently under same circumstances.