Influence of Cutting Time on Alfalfa (
            <i>Medicago sativa</i>
            ) Sugar Content and Silage Fermentation

Al-Ghumaiz, N. S.; Leep, Richard H.

doi:10.1094/fg-2006-0718-01-rs

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The cellulose and lignin content of the alfalfa was determined by the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Analytical Laboratory using acid detergent fiber analysis (Association of Official Analytical Chemists 1997). The sugar content of the alfalfa was estimated from the literature (Dexter 1945;Knapp et al 1973;Castonguay et al 1995;Gunnarsson and Marstorp 2002;Burritt et al 2005;Al-Ghumaiz et al 2006). The lignin, cellulose, and sugar were assumed to be pure lignin, cellulose, and sugar, respectively.…”

Section: Soil Microcosm Construction and Incubationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource quality in a soil food web

Bastow

2011

Biol Fertil Soils

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Numerous factors affect the resource quality of detritus, including N content, lignin content, C lability, and concentrations of tannins or phenols. Although many studies have examined the responses of detrital food webs to resources of differing quality, few have independently varied different components of resource quality. I measured the response of soil nematodes to artificial substrates in which two components of resource quality were manipulated. Two different N concentrations (2% and 1%, corresponding to C/N ratios of 21 and 41) were crossed with two different C labilities (sugar/cellulose/lignin ratios of 1.6:5.2:1 and 0.6:2.4:1). The responses of nematodes from a coastal prairie soil to the artificial substrates were measured over 2 months in two separate experiments. Effects of resource quality were more pronounced in the first experiment, in which a larger quantity of substrate was added to microcosms. Bacterivorous nematodes were 3.4 and 1.2 times more abundant in high N treatments than low N treatments in the first and second experiments, respectively. Carbon lability had a smaller effect on bacterivores in the first experiment and no effect in the second. Fungivorous nematodes were more abundant in high labile C treatments in the first experiment, but not the second. Fungivores did not respond to different N levels. Despite previous findings that soil bacteria are primarily C limited, N appears more limiting than labile C for the bacterial channel of this soil food web, but other aspects of resource quality that correlate with N content may have driven treatment differences.

show abstract

Section: Soil Microcosm Construction and Incubationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource quality in a soil food web

Bastow

2011

Biol Fertil Soils

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Silage Fermentation of PM‐ and AM‐Cut Alfalfa Wilted in Wide and Narrow Swaths

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentration in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) increases by cutting in the afternoon (PM) and wilting in wide swaths but the impact of this greater concentration during silage fermentation is not well known. We determined if increased NSC concentration associated with PM‐cutting and wide swathing is maintained during fermentation and whether it affects conservation attributes of wilted alfalfa silages. The cutting time effect was measured in spring growth and summer regrowth of 2007 and 2008 (Experiment 1) while the combined effect of cutting time and swathing type was measured in spring growth and summer regrowth of 2008 (Experiment 2). Alfalfa was field wilted [≈390 g dry matter (DM) kg−1 fresh matter] and ensiled in mini‐silos. Differences in alfalfa NSC concentration at ensiling (10 to 36 g kg−1 DM) due to PM‐cutting combined or not with wide swaths were reduced during silage fermentation to between 0 and 15 g kg−1 DM mostly through a reduction in soluble carbohydrate concentration. When NSC concentration differences at ensiling were > 10 g kg−1 DM, silage conservation attributes were improved with lower pH (−0.2 to −0.4), greater concentrations of lactate (+8 to +20 g kg−1 DM), and lower concentrations of volatile fatty acids (−8 to −11 g kg−1 DM) and NH3–N (−6 to −11 g kg−1 total N). Improved silage conservation attributes along with a greater residual starch concentration from NSC‐enriched alfalfa has the potential to improve milk production.

show abstract

Influence of Cutting Time on Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ) Sugar Content and Silage Fermentation

Cited by 2 publications

References 13 publications

Resource quality in a soil food web

Resource quality in a soil food web

Silage Fermentation of PM‐ and AM‐Cut Alfalfa Wilted in Wide and Narrow Swaths

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About