Six Trifolium pratense L. cultivars, five diploid and one tetraploid, were grown in the lowland region (123 m altitude) and the mountain region (650 m altitude). Dry ma�er (d.m.) and green mass (g.m.) yield, stem height and leaf proportion were assessed from each of the three growing seasons. Chemical composition was assessed from the average samples of all cuts in the second year of the experiment. Greater green mass (54.14 t/ha) and dry ma�er yield (9.86 t/ha), stem height (0.61 m), crude protein (157.6 g/kg), crude fiber (222.9 g/kg), crude ash (100.68 g/kg) and crude fat (30.09 g/kg) content were observed in the mountain region, compared to the lowland region (45.61 t/ha g.m. 8.92 t/ha d.m. 0.59 stem height, 156.38 g/kg crude protein, 216.6 g/kg crude fiber, 94.85 g/kg crude ash, 24.98 g/kg crude fat). The greater leaf proportion (47.2%) and nitrogen free extract content (420.13 g/kg) were observed in the lowland region compared to the mountain region (42.95% and 402.99 g/kg, respectively). A significant location × cultivar interaction was found for all investigated parameters except for leaf proportion.

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The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of interactions between low quality grass silage (GS) dominated by orchardgrass and maize silage (MS) on ad libitum intake, digestibility and nitrogen retention in wether sheep. The study consisted of four feeding treatments involving GS and MS alone and GS and MS mixtures in a ratio of 67:33 or 33:67 (dry matter (DM) basis) fed twice daily. The GS was high in DM (463 g kg -1 ), neutral detergent fibre (715 g kg -1 DM) and acid detergent fibre (429 g kg -1 DM) while low in crude protein (90.1 g kg -1 DM). The DM content (g kg -1 ) and starch concentration (g kg -1 DM) of MS were 264 and 211, respectively. The inclusion of MS into diet had positive linear effects on fresh matter ad libitum intake (kg d -1 and g kg -1 M0.75d -1 ) (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001 respectively), digestibility of DM (P < 0.01), organic matter (P < 0.01), acid detergent fibre (P < 0.05), starch (P < 0.001), digestibility of organic matter in DM (D-value) (P < 0.001), nitrogen intake (P < 0.01) and nitrogen output in faeces (P < 0.01). A positive associative effect of low quality GS and MS was observed for ad libitum intake (kg d -1 and g kg -1 M0.75d) of fresh matter (quadratic, P < 0.01), DM (quadratic, P < 0.001 and P < 0.01 respectively) and organic matter (P < 0.001), for digestibility of DM, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre, crude protein, starch and D-value (quadratic, P < 0.01), digestibility of organic matter (quadratic, P < 0.05), nitrogen intake (quadratic, P < 0.001) and nitrogen balance (quadratic, P < 0.05). It was concluded that differences between low quality GS and MS resulted in positive associative responses of GS and MS for all parameters measured (intake, digestibility and nitrogen retention).

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR spectroscopy) has been used in analytics for more than 50 years. The aim of this review is to present statistical indicators of the developed calibration models for predicting forage chemical composition by NIR spectroscopy, which have been published over the last 15 years. This paper presents statistics for predicting of forage dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), ash, and pH value of forage at different pre-scan processing level (fresh, dried / ground forage) and different forage types such as grass monocultures, legumes, grass-clover mixtures (GCM), semi-natural pasture, straw, maize, hay, silage and haylage. Due to wider applicability of NIR calibration model for prediction of chemical composition of forage, the development of calibration includes forage originating from various agricultural production technologies, cultivation climates, varieties and vegetation seasons, etc. In order to develop more reliable calibration models for prediction of forage chemical composition, calibrations are developed for individual plant species, cultivars, harvest during the vegetation season, as well as for individual microclimates of cultivation. NIR spectroscopy has high potential for predicting the content of DM, CP, NDF, ADF, ash and pH value in forage.

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