Forage

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Sorghum grown as forage crop. Forage Sorghum of Tamilnadu.jpg
Sorghum grown as forage crop.

Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. [1] Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage. [2]

Contents

While the term forage has a broad definition, the term forage crop is used to define crops, annual or biennial, which are grown to be utilized by grazing or harvesting as a whole crop. [3]

Common forages

Bull feeding on grass Bull eating fodder.jpg
Bull feeding on grass
Horse-drawn transport of fodder in Romania Horse-drawn transport forage Romania.jpg
Horse-drawn transport of fodder in Romania
Meadow of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) Naturschutzgebiet Storkower Kanal 08.jpg
Meadow of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)

Grasses

Grass forages include: [4] [5]

Herbaceous legumes

Herbaceous legume forages include: [6]

Alfalfa Lucerne with hay bales behind.jpg
Alfalfa
White clover (Trifolium repens) Trifolium repens 07 ies.jpg
White clover (Trifolium repens)

Tree legumes

Tree legume forages include:

Sheep with silage Sheep feeding on silage in the snow, Baltasound - geograph.org.uk - 1725708.jpg
Sheep with silage

Silage

Silage may be composed by the following: [7]

Aquatic feeds

Crop residue

Crop residues used as forage include:

Other

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Vicia sativa</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. It is now naturalised throughout the world occurring on every continent, except Antarctica and the Arctic. The centre of diversity is thought to be the Fertile Crescent, although gold standard molecular confirmation is currently not available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legume</span> Plant in the family Fabaceae

Legumes are plants in the family Fabaceae, or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption; for livestock forage and silage; and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides.

<i>Trifolium repens</i> Flowering plant, bean family Fabaceae

Trifolium repens, the white clover, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe, including the British Isles, and central Asia and is one of the most widely cultivated types of clover. It has been widely introduced worldwide as a forage crop, and is now also common in most grassy areas of North America, Australia and New Zealand. The species includes varieties often classed as small, intermediate and large, according to height, which reflects petiole length. The term 'white clover' is applied to the species in general, 'Dutch clover' is often applied to intermediate varieties, and 'ladino clover' is applied to large varieties.

<i>Festuca</i> Genus in the grass family Poaceae

Festuca (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae. They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of 10–200 cm (4–79 in) and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. The genus is closely related to ryegrass (Lolium), and recent evidence from phylogenetic studies using DNA sequencing of plant mitochondrial DNA shows that the genus lacks monophyly. As a result, plant taxonomists have moved several species, including the forage grasses tall fescue and meadow fescue, from the genus Festuca into the genus Lolium, or alternatively into the segregate genus Schedonorus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living mulch</span> Cover crop grown with a main crop as mulch

In agriculture, a living mulch is a cover crop interplanted or undersown with a main crop, and intended to serve the purposes of a mulch, such as weed suppression and regulation of soil temperature. Living mulches grow for a long time with the main crops, whereas cover crops are incorporated into the soil or killed with herbicides.

<i>Lolium pratense</i> Species of grass

Lolium pratense, meadow fescue is a perennial species of grass, which is often used as an ornamental in gardens, and is also an important forage crop. It grows in meadows, roadsides, old pastures, and riversides on moist, rich soils, especially on loamy and heavy soils.

British NVC community MC10 is one of the maritime cliff communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of five communities categorised as maritime sea-cliff grasslands.

British NVC community MG8 is one of the mesotrophic grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of three communities associated with poorly drained permanent pastures.

British NVC community MG5 is one of the mesotrophic grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four such communities associated with well-drained permanent pastures and meadows.

British NVC community MG6 is one of the mesotrophic grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four such communities associated with well-drained permanent pastures and meadows.

British NVC community MG4 is one of the mesotrophic grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four such communities associated with well-drained permanent pastures and meadows.

British NVC community MC5 is one of the maritime cliff communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of five communities categorised as maritime cliff crevice and ledge communities.

<i>Lolium arundinaceum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lolium arundinaceum, tall fescue is a cool-season perennial C3 species of grass that is native to Europe. It occurs on woodland margins, in grassland and in coastal marshes. It is also an important forage grass with many cultivars that used in agriculture and is used as an ornamental grass in gardens, and sometimes as a phytoremediation plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavojdia</span> Commune in Timiș, Romania

Gavojdia is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Gavojdia, Jena, Lugojel and Sălbăgel.

<i>Kummerowia striata</i> Species of legume

Kummerowia striata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Japanese clover and common lespedeza. It is native to much of Asia and it is present in the eastern United States as an introduced species.

<i>Dichanthium annulatum</i> Species of plant

Dichanthium annulatum is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is commonly used as a forage for livestock.

Sown biodiverse pastures consist of diverse mixes of up to twenty different species or varieties of seeds, and are rich in legumes. They are more productive than natural grasslands, and are also richer in number of species. The seed mix is designed specifically for each location after soil analysis. Species in the mix is adapted to soil physical and chemical characteristics, as well as to local climate conditions, and therefore there is no single representative mix. However, some very common sown species in SBP are Trifolium subterraneum, Trifolium incarnatum, Trifolium resupinatum, Ornithopus spp., Biserrula pelecinus, annual Medicago spp., and grass species of the genera Lolium, Dactylis and Phalaris. The mixes of sown species are often enriched with seeds from spontaneous plants such as Plantago spp., Vulpia spp. and Bromus spp.. Legumes are thus very common in these mixtures and cover more than 50% of first-year SBP. As pasture settlement progresses, legumes increase and eventually dominate. Percentage of legumes in the plant cover of a mature SBP is around 25–30%. Legumes are inoculated with bacteria of the genus Rhizobium which induce nitrogen-fixing nodules in the roots of legumes. The fixated atmospheric nitrogen is then used by grasses thus making the overall system self-sufficient in terms of nitrogen.

Meso-Papilionoideae is a monophyletic clade of the flowering plant subfamily Faboideae that includes the majority of papilionoid legumes. This clade is consistently resolved in molecular phylogenies. It contains many agronomically important genera, including Arachis (peanut), Cicer (chickpea), Glycine (soybean), Medicago (alfalfa), Phaseolus, Trifolium (clover), Vicia (vetch), and Vigna.

References

  1. Fageria, N.K. (1997). Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops. NY, NY: Marcel Dekker. p. 595.
  2. Fageria, N.K. (1997). Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops. NY, NY: Marcel Dekker. p. 583.
  3. Givens, D. Ian (2000). Forage evaluation in ruminant nutrition. CABI. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-85199-344-7.
  4. Murphy, B. (1998). Greener Pastures On Your Side of the Fence. Colchester, Vermont: Arriba Publishing. pp. 19–20.
  5. Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Pasture"  . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  6. Murphy, B. (1998). Greener Pastures On Your Side of the Fence. Colchester, Vermont: Arriba Publishing. p. 20.
  7. George, J. R. (1994). Extension Publications: Forage and Grain Crops. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt. p. 152.
  8. Jahanzad, E.; Barker, A. V.; Hashemi, M.; Eaton, T.; Sadeghpour, A.; Weis, S. A. (2016). "Nitrogen Release Dynamics and Decomposition of Buried and Surface Cover Crop Residues". Agronomy Journal . 108 (4). American Society of Agronomy (Wiley): 1735–1741. Bibcode:2016AgrJ..108.1735J. doi:10.2134/agronj2016.01.0001. ISSN   0002-1962. S2CID   88990719.