Theme 09: Forage Quality

Description

A broad definition of forage quality is used and the purposes for which research on forage quality is undertaken currently are outlined. These range from research that provides simple measurements that describes the forage quality of a commercial product to research on forage quality to improve understanding of digestion processes. Much of the research in the last decade has related to improving predictive measurements. The different degrees of progress that have been made in the development and use of measurements to further our understanding of forage quality are described and related to their fitness of purpose. It is concluded that progress in the last decade has mainly been made in the development of the use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to reduce the need and time required for other types of analysis. Other areas of progress have been in the development of techniques to reflect a greater understanding of the nutrition of ruminants, particularly which factors are important in determining nutrient supply. Examples of these are developments in in vitro gas production and in situ methods. These have been valuable but they are unlikely to be adopted on a large-scale for forage evaluation. For a research purpose the major advance has been in the development of improved marker techniques to allow the measurement of intake, digestibility and diet selection of grazing animals.

Priorities for research in the future depend on the identification of future needs and the opportunities for developing solutions. It is likely that research on processes in relation to forage quality will be a priority for intensively managed grassland systems. The pressure in parts of Europe and North America will be for the de-intensification of much of the grassland to meet sustainability, nature conservation and landscape objectives and in these circumstances the definition of forage quality changes and this requires new approaches to the study of forage quality. In many other parts of the world there will be a continuing need to develop simple methods for describing forage quality which do not rely on sophisticated equipment but utilise the experience and knowledge of local grassland managers. It is argued that the diversity of research on forage quality will continue to expand. It will be important to identify needs precisely so that appropriate innovative solutions can be developed.

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Research on Forage Quality: Progress and Priorities

A broad definition of forage quality is used and the purposes for which research on forage quality is undertaken currently are outlined. These range from research that provides simple measurements that describes the forage quality of a commercial product to research on forage quality to improve understanding of digestion processes. Much of the research in the last decade has related to improving predictive measurements. The different degrees of progress that have been made in the development and use of measurements to further our understanding of forage quality are described and related to their fitness of purpose. It is concluded that progress in the last decade has mainly been made in the development of the use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to reduce the need and time required for other types of analysis. Other areas of progress have been in the development of techniques to reflect a greater understanding of the nutrition of ruminants, particularly which factors are important in determining nutrient supply. Examples of these are developments in in vitro gas production and in situ methods. These have been valuable but they are unlikely to be adopted on a large-scale for forage evaluation. For a research purpose the major advance has been in the development of improved marker techniques to allow the measurement of intake, digestibility and diet selection of grazing animals.

Priorities for research in the future depend on the identification of future needs and the opportunities for developing solutions. It is likely that research on processes in relation to forage quality will be a priority for intensively managed grassland systems. The pressure in parts of Europe and North America will be for the de-intensification of much of the grassland to meet sustainability, nature conservation and landscape objectives and in these circumstances the definition of forage quality changes and this requires new approaches to the study of forage quality. In many other parts of the world there will be a continuing need to develop simple methods for describing forage quality which do not rely on sophisticated equipment but utilise the experience and knowledge of local grassland managers. It is argued that the diversity of research on forage quality will continue to expand. It will be important to identify needs precisely so that appropriate innovative solutions can be developed.