Forage quality changes of six forbs and grasses species in different phenological stages

Studying the forage quality of range species is among the important factors required for range management. In the present study, the forage quality of range species including Onobrychis transcaspica, Onobrychis radiate, Astragalus brevidens, Melica ciliate, Agropyron pectiniforme, and Sangisorba minor were investigated at three phenological stages. The study was conducted in the rangelands of Bojnourd. At each phenological stage, sampling was performed randomly with five replicates. Forage quality indices including CP, ADF, DMD, and ME were measured in the laboratory. The results showed that the forage quality of the study species was higher as compared with flowering and seeding stages, so that with the advancing age of the plant, crude protein, dry matter digestibility, and metabolizable energy reduced and ADF increased. In comparison with grasses, Legumes had the highest CP content (14.53% and the lowest ADF content (43.91%) in all three phenological stages. Among the study species, the maximum and minimum crude protein content was recorded for Astragalus brevidens and Agropyron pectiniforme, respectively.
Analysis of variance showed that the effects of species and phenological stages were significant (P