Feeding value of Lactuca Serriola at different harvesting stages and prediction of lag time with different models

The aim of this research was to study the feeding value of Lactuca Serriola at different harvesting stages and comparison of different models for prediction of its lag time. The forage was cut at tow growing stages before and after bloom and chemical composition, degradability and gas production parameters were compared with alfalfa hay. Also lag time of experimental forages was determined. The crud protein and NFC concentration were the lowest and NDF and ADF content were the highest after bloom compared with alfalfa hay (p<0.05). potentially digestible fraction (b) of DM increased by enhancement of the growing stage od Lactuca Serriola (p<0.05). effective degradability (ED) and gas production potential before bloom stage were significantly higher than the other experimental forages (p<0.05). Results obtained from prediction of lag time showed that the lag timewas the highest before bloom of Lactuca Serriola (p<0.05). In conclusion, Lactuca Serriola ( before bloom) could be considered as a good potential forage source in ruminant nutrition.