Estimating Chemical Composition, Degradation Parameters and Gas Production of Persian Clover Nutrients at Different Plant's Growth Stages

This study was conducted to determine the chemical composition, degradability characteristics gas production as well as the phenomenon of the Persian clover (Trifolium resopinatum) when at some growth stages of the were early budding to full flowering, namely: early budding (I), full budding (II), early flowering (III) as well as full flowering stage (IV). Four fistulated Mehraban male sheep were taken as experimental specimens to estimate the degradability parameters. The results obtained from the chemical composition indicated that as the plant growth stage advanced, percentages of organic matter and NDF increased but the levels of CP, NFC and EE decreased significantly (P<0.05). The results concerning the degradability traits indicated that as the growth stage advanced the disappearance of the DM and CP contents and their effective degradability decreased. A similar trend was observed for the phenomenon of gas production, i.e. as the growth stage advanced, simultaneous with that, the digestible OM and metabolizable energy decreased significantly (P<0.05). It can be concluded, as deduced from the obtained results, that clover harvested at an early flowering stage benefits from more desirable nutritive qualities than when at the other tested growth stages.