Journal of Range Management, Volume 37, Number 1 (January 1984): Recent submissions
Now showing items 21-23 of 23
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Conversion of Solar Energy into Digestible Energy: A Basis for Evaluating Range Forages?Identification of forage species that have high solar energy/digestible energy conversion ratios could lead to the development of forage varieties which produce more digestible energy per unit area of land. This concept was tested by first determining if certain forage species differed in their physiological capability of converting solar energy into a digestible form. The digestible energy conversion efficiency (DECE) of Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn., Agropyron smithii Rydb., Bouteloua gracilis (A.B.K.) Lag., Carex filifolia Nutt., Koeleria pyramidata (Lam.) Beauv. and Stipa comata Trin. & Rupr. was calculated from 1977 field data. Initial results indicated Agropyron cristatum was more efficient (P<0.05) than any of the natives. But correction of digestible energy content for unequal aboveground biomass production reduced species differences to a nonsignificant level.
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Cattle Diets Under Continuous and Four-pasture, One-herd Grazing Systems in Southcentral New MexicoDiet samples were collected from cows grazing a four-pasture, one-herd rotation system and a yearlong pasture. Differences in botanical content of the diet between the two systems was not consistent for the two years. During the first year diet of cows grazing the rotation pastures were higher in browse and lower in grass content compared to those grazing the yearlong pasture. However, during the second year, browse content of the diets was nearly identical for the two systems. Apparently higher weaning weights of calves from the yearlong system are related to greater herbage availability and digestibility compared to the rotation system.
