Teagasc (Agriculture and Food Development Authority), Ireland
Abstract
peer-reviewedPerennial ryegrass (n = 1,836), Italian ryegrass (n = 137) and hybrid ryegrass (n =
103) herbage was taken from harvested plots from the Irish national variety evaluation
scheme and analysed for in vitro dry matter digestibility, water soluble carbohydrate
concentration, crude protein concentration and buffering capacity. Spectral data were
obtained using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and three calibration strategies
(global, species-specific or local) were utilised to relate the reference values to the
spectral data. The local strategy generally provided the poorest estimation of herbage
composition, with global and species-specific calibration strategies producing similarly
accurate estimates of each quality trait. The higher accuracy and easier maintenance of
the global strategy make it the recommended calibration method for analysing quality
of ryegrass.Department of Agriculture, Food and the
Marine Research Stimulus Fund (07 526