Nutritive value of Lucerne: IV. The Leaf-Stem Ratio.

Abstract

In this paper are brought together a number of data concerning the ratio of the amount of leaf to stem in the lucerne crop, at different stages of growth, and the separate composition of the leafy and stemmy fractions.It is shown that the proportion of leaf falls off as the crop advances in maturity, and that the rate of decrease of leafiness is greater before budding than during the period from the beginning of budding to early flower. The changes in the leaf-stem ratio largely account for the fall in protein content, the rise in fibre content and the running-off in digestibility and feeding value that take place as the crop passes through the successive stages of growth up to flowering.