Understanding Nutritive Value: Alternative Forages
نویسنده
چکیده
There is a tendency to consider forages largely in terms of their energy value or TDN. However, the feeding value of forage is actually a more complex function of its nutrient composition, chemical-physical characteristics of its fiber, acceptability (palatability), and associative interactions it might have with other dietary ingredients. Because forages are not usually cost-competitive with concentrate feedstuffs as energy sources, their inclusion in formulations for feedlot and dairy cattle is dictated more particularly on the basis of their function as roughage. Feedstuffs that contribute extra nutritional benefits, separate and distinct from their nutrient supply, are referred to as “functional feedstuffs”. A big step toward understanding the alternative value of different forages in diet formulations for feedlot and dairy cattle is to better appreciate their limits as functional feedstuffs.
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