Grass Age Intervals | |||||||||
Chemical Composition | First July | Mid August | Mid September | Mid October | Mid November | Mid December | Overall Mean | SEM | LSD |
DM% | 80.88d | 89.49c | 90.77b | 95.09a | 91.17b | 96.60a | 89.77c | 1.22 | * |
Ash% | 13.45 | 11.06 | 11.63 | 12.23 | 10.72 | 13.03 | 11.73 | 0.99 | NS |
OM% | 86.85 | 88.64 | 89.38 | 87.78 | 89.29 | 86.67 | 88.42 | 069 | NS |
CP% | 5.05c | 7.72b | 8.09a | 7.28b | 5.08c | 4.40d | 6.21 | 0.48 | ** |
CF% | 22.26d | 24.22c | 31.26b | 24.25c | 41.46a | 23.70d | 29.88 | 1.14 | ** |
EE% | 5.30b | 7.20a | 4.33c | 3.39d | 5.66b | 2.80e | 4.96 | 0.38 | ** |
NFEE% | 37.26c | 34.35d | 37.70c | 38.26b | 38.80b | 49.33a | 39.60 | 1.07 | ** |
NDF% | 36.23e | 54.58c | 45.38d | 64.39a | 61.25b | 64.05a | 54.67 | 1.02 | ** |
Hemi-Cellulose% | 4.48f | 8.27d | 6.99e | 19.12b | 11.90c | 30.11a | 14.00 | 1.42 | * |
(ADF%) | 31.75e | 46.36b | 38.39c | 46.67b | 49.35a | 33.94d | 40.74 | 1.48 | ** |
Cellulose% | 14.05d | 29.55a | 23.37b | 30.44a | 24.21b | 20.07c | 21.47 | 2.32 | ** |
Lignin% | 9.70e | 16.81d | 15.02d | 22.24c | 25.14b | 33.86a | 19.34 | 1.41 | * |
ME MJ/kg/DM | 7.77b | 6.63c | 8.81a | 6.60c | 6.17c | 6.16c | 6.88 | 0.14 | * |