Chemical Composition and Nutritve Value of (Astragalus brevidens Freyn & Sint) and (Astragalus masenderanus Bunge)

In this study، the nutritive value of AS. brevidens and AS. masenderanus were analyzed in 3 different morphological growth stages (vegetative، flowering، seeding) through chemical composition، in vitro gas production and in vitro dry matter digestibility determination. Astragalus brevidens and Astragalus masenderanus are the typical plants in khorasan ranglands that have high palatability and high biomass yeild. Gas production and degradation characteristics of plant''s dry matter were measured during 120 h incubation in different growth stages. The results indicated that the nutritive value of the plants depended on their growth stages. In vegetative stage، protein content of leaf in AS. brevidens and AS. masenderanus were 16. 99% and 20. 77% respectively; as it has been accepted with the growth advancement، nutritive value of these plants decreased (p)