Agronomic Factors in Evaluating Forage Crops I. Predicting Quality Measures of Crude Protein and Digestibility from Crop Leafiness

Stage-to-stage changes in leaf percentage, crude protein concentration and in vitro true disgestibility of alfalfa herbage materials of the same age and common harvest dates across there different growing season were determined. Leafiness decreased with advancing crop maturity. Herbage leaf content was closely associated with the total herbage C P and IVTD. When leaf percentage was regressed on quality measures of C P and IVTD, the regression analysis provided highly significant linear relationship for CP(r2= 0.823), IVTD (r2= 0.854) for alfalfa crop diverse in stand and canopy ages, stages of maturity and across locations and seasons of the year. These relationships indicated practical applicability of the use of crop leafiness for predicting the herbage quality.