Wednesday, November 15, 2006
273-1

Digestibility and Fiber of a Forage Bermudagrass Core Collection.

William Anderson, USDA-ARS, USDA/ARS CBGRU, PO Box 748, Tifton, GA 31793

Bermudagrass is the most important warm-season grass forage for the South.  Cultivars with good quality traits such as high dry matter digestibility have translated into higher daily gains for beef and improved milk production in dairy cattle.  A forage bermudagrass core collection consisting of 168 plant introductions from around the world were analyzed for in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) during the summer of 2005.  There was significant variation among entries for IVDMD (48.3% to 71.0%), NDF (64.3% to 77.3%) and ADF (24.1% to 34.5%).  IVDMD was negatively correlated with NDF (R2 = -0.86) and ADF (R2= -0.58).  ADF and NDF were correlated (R2 = 0.71), however, entries such as Tifton 68 had very high digestibility with moderately high NDF and ADF.  Results from the core collection screening will facilitate the identification of parental lines that will be used to breed for higher forage quality.

Handout (.pdf format, 411.0 kb)

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