Quality of herbage at different latitudes.

In a cooperative experiment, yield and herbage quality of timothy was measured during the uninterrupted growth of the 1st cut at 6 lat. (51-69 deg N). Rate of production was greatest at Tromso (69 deg N), apparently because of the long day and rapid reproductive development. Digestibility of OM declined faster at higher lat. because stem development proceeded faster and less leaf DM was produced. At the same morphological stage, digestibility of the whole crop was better at higher lat. because of the better digestibility of the cell walls from the stems. It was concluded that rate of lignification could not keep pace with the rapid rate of stem development. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission