Plant compositional constituents affecting between-plant and animal species prediction of forage intake

The purpose of the study was to identify plant compositional constituents that influence forage intake. Emphasis was put on the ratio in vitro digestibility of organic matter (IVDOM):NDF because preliminary work with cattle and a limited number of forages showed the ratio to account for more variation in intake than either IVDOM or NDF alone. The compositional constituents were tested in intake prediction models using local and published data (n = 302) on grass pastures, silages, hays, straws, legumes, grass-legume mixtures, and shrubs ingested by both browsing and grass-eating ruminants (goats, red deer, impala, blesbok, sheep, cattle, and blue wildebeest). In the local experiments, esophageally fistulated and fecal bag-harnessed animals were used to collect representative grazed forage samples from pastures and to determine OM excreted, respectively. Forage intake was calculated as OM excreted divided by (1-IVDOM). Intake of silages, hays, and straws was measured indoors in digestibility trials. Intakes among species were compared after scaling for size by BW raised to the power of .9. Major contributors to the variation in forage intake were ash, hemicellulose, IVDOM:NDF, ADL, and the interaction between DM content and, respectively, ash, N, and ADL. High tannin/phenol concentrations proved limiting to intake. The ratio of IVDOM:NDF accounted for 67% of the variation in forage intake if data for which the other constituents had an effect were omitted, and the equation, OMI, g.kg BW-.9.d-1 = 70-97e-.975(IVDOM:NDF), predicted intake across all forages and ruminant species with a Sy.x of 5.3 g.kg BW-.9.d-1 (CV = 15%). The ratio of IVDOM:NDF should be valuable as a relatively inexpensive and rapid method to screen forages and cultivars.