Morphological, chemical and nutritional properties of forage plants in a natural rangeland in Turkey

Abstract

Plant length, main stem diameter, root crown diameter, dry weight of root per plant and forage yield per plant of 30 forage plants were examined as morphological characters. A wide range of variation within the same species was observed among morphological characters. Crude protein and crude ash ratios, K, Ca, Mg, P, S, Fe, Zn, Mn contents, K/(Ca+Mg), Ca/P and N/S ratios of the plants were examined. The crude protein and crude ash ratios of the plants ranged between 5.81 to 16.32%, 7.05 to 14.68%, respectively. K, P, Mg and Ca contents of plants ranged between 0.06 to 3.67, 0.17 to 0.49, 0.01 to 1.19 and 0.45 to 2.79%, respectively. The values for Fe, Zn and Mn contents of plants ranged between 132.4 - 815.2, 12.37 - 68.0 and 21.7 - 138.4 ppm, respectively. Ca/P, N/S and K/(Ca+Mg) ratios of plant samples were 1.17 - 10.38, 1.35 - 7.75 and 0.36 - 4.73, respectively.