Forage Knowpia

Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock.^[1] Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage.^[2]

While the term forage has a broad definition, the term forage crop is used to define crops, annual or biennial, which are grown to be utilized by grazing or harvesting as a whole crop.^[3]

Common forages edit

Bull feeding on grass

Horse-drawn transport of fodder in Romania

Meadow of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)

Grasses edit

Grass forages include:^[4]^[5]

Agrostis spp. – bentgrasses
- Agrostis capillaris – common bentgrass
- Agrostis stolonifera – creeping bentgrass
Andropogon hallii – sand bluestem
Arrhenatherum elatius – false oat-grass
Bothriochloa bladhii – Australian bluestem
Bothriochloa pertusa – hurricane grass
Brachiaria decumbens – Surinam grass
Brachiaria humidicola – koronivia grass
Bromus spp. – bromegrasses
Cenchrus ciliaris – buffelgrass
Chloris gayana – Rhodes grass
Cynodon dactylon – bermudagrass
Dactylis glomerata – orchard grass
Echinochloa pyramidalis – antelope grass
Entolasia imbricata – bungoma grass
Festuca spp. – fescues
- Festuca arundinacea – tall fescue
- Festuca pratensis – meadow fescue
- Festuca rubra – red fescue
Heteropogon contortus – black spear grass
Hymenachne amplexicaulis – West Indian marsh grass
Hyparrhenia rufa – jaragua
Leersia hexandra – southern cutgrass
Lolium spp. – ryegrasses
- Lolium multiflorum – Italian ryegrass
- Lolium perenne – perennial ryegrass
Megathyrsus maximus – Guinea grass
Melinis minutiflora – molasses grass
Paspalum conjugatum – carabao grass
Paspalum dilatatum – dallisgrass
Phalaris arundinacea – reed canarygrass
Phleum pratense – timothy
Poa spp. – bluegrasses, meadow-grasses
- Poa arachnifera – Texas bluegrass
- Poa pratensis – Kentucky bluegrass
- Poa trivialis – rough bluegrass
Setaria sphacelata – African bristlegrass
Themeda triandra – kangaroo grass
Thinopyrum intermedium – intermediate wheatgrass

Herbaceous legumes edit

Herbaceous legume forages include:^[6]

Alfalfa

White clover (Trifolium repens)

Arachis pintoi – pinto peanut
Astragalus cicer – cicer milkvetch
Chamaecrista rotundifolia – roundleaf sensitive pea
Clitoria ternatea – butterfly-pea
Kummerowia – annual lespedezas
- Kummerowia stipulacea – Korean clover, Korean lespedeza
- Kummerowia striata – Japanese clover, common lespedeza
Lotus corniculatus – bird's-foot trefoil
Macroptilium atropurpureum – purple bush-bean
Macroptilium bracteatum – burgundy bean
Medicago spp. – medics
- Medicago sativa – alfalfa, lucerne
- Medicago truncatula – barrel medic
Melilotus spp. – sweetclovers
Neonotonia wightii – perennial soybean
Onobrychis viciifolia – common sainfoin
Stylosanthes spp. – stylo
- Stylosanthes humilis – Townsville stylo
- Stylosanthes scabra – shrubby stylo
Trifolium spp. – clovers
- Trifolium hybridum – alsike clover
- Trifolium incarnatum – crimson clover
- Trifolium pratense – red clover
- Trifolium repens – white clover
Vicia spp. – vetches
- Vicia articulata – oneflower vetch
- Vicia ervilia – bitter vetch
- Vicia narbonensis – narbon vetch
- Vicia sativa – common vetch, tare
- Vicia villosa – hairy vetch
Vigna parkeri – creeping vigna

Tree legumes edit

Tree legume forages include:

Acacia aneura – mulga
Albizia spp. – silk trees
Albizia canescens – Belmont siris
Albizia lebbeck – lebbeck
Enterolobium cyclocarpum – earpodtree
Leucaena leucocephala – leadtree

Sheep with silage

Silage edit

Silage may be composed by the following:^[7]

Alfalfa
Maize (corn)
Grass-legume mix
Sorghums
Oats

Aquatic feeds edit

Lemna minor – Duckweed
Pistia stratiotes – Water lecttuce
Eichhornia crassipes – Water hyacinth
Salvinia molesta – fern
Ipomoea aquatica – Water spinach

Crop residue edit

Crop residues used as forage include:

Sorghum
Sweet potato vines
Corn or soybean
Fruit tree by-products stover

Other edit

Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus – Daikon radish/"forage radish"^[8]

References edit

^ Fageria, N.K. (1997). Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops. NY, NY: Marcel Dekker. p. 595.
^ Fageria, N.K. (1997). Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops. NY, NY: Marcel Dekker. p. 583.
^ Givens, D. Ian (2000). Forage evaluation in ruminant nutrition. CABI. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-85199-344-7.
^ Murphy, B. (1998). Greener Pastures On Your Side of the Fence. Colchester, Vermont: Arriba Publishing. pp. 19–20.
^ Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Pasture" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
^ Murphy, B. (1998). Greener Pastures On Your Side of the Fence. Colchester, Vermont: Arriba Publishing. p. 20.
^ George, J. R. (1994). Extension Publications: Forage and Grain Crops. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt. p. 152.
^ Jahanzad, E.; Barker, A. V.; Hashemi, M.; Eaton, T.; Sadeghpour, A.; Weis, S. A. (2016). "Nitrogen Release Dynamics and Decomposition of Buried and Surface Cover Crop Residues". Agronomy Journal. 108 (4). American Society of Agronomy (Wiley): 1735–1741. doi:10.2134/agronj2016.01.0001. ISSN 0002-1962. S2CID 88990719.