Digestible Nutrient Content


 Crotalaria intermedia Kotschy.-An introduction of this legume was
made in 1924, and accessioned as S.P.I. No. 60301, by the Bureau of Plant
Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. It is one of several
crotalarias introduced in an attempt to find a legume forage adapted to
the fine sandy loam soils of the coastal plains. It was found to be the most
palatable to cattle of those studied (2), with the exception of C. incana L.,
which was discarded because of insect attacks and poor seeding habits.
The taste is sweetish.
 It is an upright, moderately branching and trifoliate annual. Flowers
are yellow, the standard conspicuously veined with purple. Seeds are about
one-eighth inch long and light in color. The stems become woody and many
of the leaves fall after the bloom stage. Mature height of the plant is six
to eight feet.
 It is seeded at the rate of three pounds per acre in rows three feet wide
and cultivated much the same as corn. The high percentage of hard seeds
makes scarification desirable. Yields of three to ten tons of green material
have been obtained. If allowed to mature, it reseeds and volunteers a crop
the following year. Seed yields are at the rate of 300 to 500 pounds per
acre.
 Crotalaria intermedia seems to be better adapted to making silage than
for use as either pasture or hay.
 Natal grass.-Tricholaena rosea Nees. This South African grass is said
to have been brought to Florida as early as 1875. It is a tender perennial,
easily injured by cold, but if a part of the crop is allowed to mature seed,
it reseeds and acts as an annual. It grows to a height of two to three feet,
producing an abundance of leaves and tender stems. The seedhead is an
open panicle, at first pink or red in color, but fading to a lighter shade
and becoming downy at maturity. The wind borne seeds have spread this
plant over much of Florida. It has found favor as a cover crop in citrus
groves.
 The principal advantage of Natal grass is its ability to grow on light
sandy soils where few other grasses will succeed. It is not used for pasture
where either carpet or bermuda grass will make satisfactory growth. For
hay, it should be cut in the early period of bloom. If the leaves begin to
dry and the stems have become woody, the resulting hay will be of poor
quality.
 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

 Methods used in conducting the digestion trials were essen-
tially as recommended by Forbes and Grindley (3). The basal
ration per day consisted of one pound of prime cottonseed meal
and enough No. 1 federal grade alfalfa hay to supply slightly
more total digestible nutrients than required for maintenance
of each experimental animal. In the trials with each feed, one-
half of the alfalfa hay was replaced by the experimental feed.
In feeding, three pounds of silage replaced one pound of hay.
In every case the total ration provided an excess of digestible