Biochemistry, conservation and quality of grassland forages
The goal: Determining the quality and productivity of perennial grass and forage legume species of grassland for their selection and breeding or to formulate feed rations for herbivorous animals, so that their conversion into animal products (milk, meat, wool, etc.) and / or capacity effort (in working animals) to have a high efficiency;
By harvesting, preparing and preserving the feeds, a series of qualitative and quantitative losses appear even under the conditions in which the green feed, with very good botanical composition, is mowed in the optimum age. The reduction of qualitative losses in the process of harvesting, preparing and preserving the forage is possible by shortening, as far as possible, the period from the beginning of harvesting (mowing) to obtaining the final stored product (hay, semi-hay and semi-silos ).
Research in this field has led to:
- - the suitability for conservation of different species and mixtures of grassland fodders;
- - qualitative assessment of feeding value of forages at a level as close as possible to the real content in nutrients;
- promoting in practice the optimal technological solutions for harvesting and preparation, so that the quantitative and qualitative losses are minimal;
- establishing the influence of the different methods of conservation and storage on the quality and quantity of the forage produced on the grasslands;
- - realization of current chemical analysis: mineral elements; crude protein; raw fiber; the constituents of the cell walls; organic fermentation acids; digestibility, “in vitro”