Determination of potential nutritive value of trigonella kotschi fenzl hay harvested at three different maturity stages [Üç farkli{dotless} dönemde hasat edilen trigonella kotschi otunun potansiyel besleme deǧerinin belirlenmesi]

The objective of this experiment was to determine the potential nutritive value of trigonella kotschi fenzl hay harvested at three maturity stages using chemical composition and in vitro gas production technique. in vitro gas productions of trigonella kotschi hay were determined at 0,3,6,12,24,48,72 and 96 h incubation times and their gas production kinetics were described using the equation y = a (1-exp-ct). maturity had a significant effect on the chemical composition,in vitro gas production,metabolisable energy (me) and organic matter digestibility (omd). cell wall contents (neutral detergent fiber (ndf),acid detergent fiber (adf)) of trigonella kotschi hay increased with maturity whereas crude protein (cp) content decreased. the cp contents of trigonella kotschi hay ranged from 13.22 to 22.56%. the ndf and adf contents of trigonella kotschi hay ranged from 26.56 to 44.72 and 19.65 to 35.30% respectively. the condensed tannin content of trigonella kotschi hay ranged from 0.69 to 1.06 % and decreased with increasing maturity. the ca,k and fe contents of trigonella kotschi hay harvested at flowering stage were significantly higher than those harvested at pre-flowering and seeding stages. the p,k and cu contents of trigonella kotschi hay harvested at pre-flowering stage were significantly higher than those harvested at flowering and seeding stages. the potential gas production and estimated parameters decreased with increasing maturity of trigonella kotschi hay. the potential gas production (a) ranged from 59.26 to 70.46 ml. the me and omd ranged from 9.25 and 10.85 mj/kg dm and 62.63 to 74.08% respectively. in conclusion,although the nutritive value of trigonella kotschi plant dramatically changed with increasing maturity it appears that wild trigonella kotschi plant could be grazed or harvested at these more advanced stages and still provides forage of an acceptable quality for ruminant animals during summer and winter periods.