Determining of chemical composition, physical specification and in vitro digestibility of alfalfa hay second cut of Kurdistan province

This research was conducted to determine of the chemical compositions, physical characteristics and in vitro digestibility of second cut alfalfa hay in the five regions of Kurdistan province. Based on cultivation area of alfaalfa in different regions, 90 villages and 3-4 farmers in each village were randomly sampled from farm, harvest and store them, using random classification sampling method. The results of chemical compositions showed that dry matter (DM), Ether Extract and ash had no significant difference in different regions. Howerer, crude protein (CP), cell wall (NDF) and cell wall without hemicelluloses (ADF) content had significant difference in different regions (P>0.05). The achieved data of physical characteristics showed that there was significant difference between different regions for geometric mean (GM), physically effective fiber (PeNDF), bulk density, water holding capacity and functional specific gravity (P>0.05). Howerer, there was no significant difference between different regions for physically effective factor (Pef), soluble and insoluble dry matter. Analyses of digestibility showed that digestibility of DM, CP, NDF and ADF had significant difference in different regions (P>0.05), whereas there was no significant difference for DOMD and ME. In conclusion, the results of current study demonstrated that alfalfa samples collected from different regions of Kurdistan province differed with regard to chemical compositions, Physical characteristics and in vitro digestibility.