Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
The nutritive value of forage crops is related mainly to climatic conditions and stage of plant maturity, and its determination for any given crop is essential for optimum planning and animal feeding (Berardo et al., 1993; Deaville and Flinn, 2000). Worldwide the nutritive value of forages is often estimated by chemical or physical methods and is expressed as the concentration of chemical constituents in the plant tissue. There is little information in the literature about the use of NIRS to determine degradability in pastures with different conditions, season, different places (Wilman et al., 2000). The aim of the work to explore the use of NIRS as rapid tool for estimate DM and N degradability in forages.