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STAGE OF MATURITY FOR HARVESTING
Hello, it's time for Ahli Artikel to share an article about Stage Of Maturity For Harvesting, please read below.
Hello, it's time for Ahli Artikel to share an article about Stage Of Maturity For Harvesting, please read below.
Stage Of Maturity For Harvesting
The stage of maturity at which hay crops are cut affects color, leafiness, and other factors of quality. It it impossible to produce high-quality hay from late-cut grasses and legumes, because lignin (tough fiber) increases as the plants mature.
PLANT STAGE FOR HARVEST: The more immature a forage crop is when cut, the smaller the yield and the more palatable and nutritious the product. Because of smaller yield along with increased labor cost from frequent cutting, some sacrifice of quality must be made in the interest of greater yields. Consequently, plants are harvested for hay at an intermediate stage when neither yield nor quality is at its maximum. The best time to harvest the grasses, clover, and alfalfa for hay is ordinarily some time between early bloom and full bloom. Sweetclover should be cut in the bud stage to avoid subsequent coarse growth. Crops that are heavy producers of seed, such as cereals, soybeans, and cowpeas should be cut at a later stage. Cereals should be cut for hay when the grain is in the soft- to medium-dough stage, soybeans when the beans are about half grown, and cowpeas when the first pods are mature. When a hay of very high quality is required, grasses and alfalfa are sometimes harvested before they bloom. Cutting alfalfa in the bud or tenth-bloom stages reduces the vigor and stand as compared with cutting at full bloom. The injury from early or frequent cutting is due to the depletion of organic food reserves in the roots.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: The compositionof hay changes with advance toward maturity. The amounts of protein and minerals are higher, and the amounts of the less valuable crude fiber is lower, in young than in old plants.
The crude fiber (chiefly cellulose) of young plants, as in immature pasture herbage, appears to be largely digestible. As the plant matures, a progressively greater proportion of the crude fiber is made up of less digestible lignin, which lowers the net nutritive value of the plant. Increased growth of small grains beyond the medium-dough stage is more than offset by shattering of kernels, loss of leaves, leaching, and general deterioration of plant structure. Close associations are evident between the contents of fiber and stems; of total ash calcium, and leaves; and of phosphorus, crude protein, and nitrogen-free extract, and heads.
The carotene content, a measure of vitamin A potency, is higher in early stages of leafy growth because the leaves contain more carotene than the stems, and old leaves lose carotene. In alfalfa, clover, and timothy hays, vitamin B and G decrease as the plant matures. In general these vitamins are correlated with the leafiness, greenness, and protein content of the plant. In fact, vitamin D is the only one to show a gain in the sun-cured forage as compared with the green forage.
Cutting hay in late afternoon may avoid the depletion of food materials from the leaves and stems by translocation to the roots and by repiration during the nigh when photosynthesis is suspended. Practical conditions of curing hay favor morning cutting despite these assumed small losses.
And that some explanations articles on Stage Of Maturity For Harvesting. Hopefully can improve the knowledge of the reader. . .
HAPPY LEARNING. . . .
The stage of maturity at which hay crops are cut affects color, leafiness, and other factors of quality. It it impossible to produce high-quality hay from late-cut grasses and legumes, because lignin (tough fiber) increases as the plants mature.
PLANT STAGE FOR HARVEST: The more immature a forage crop is when cut, the smaller the yield and the more palatable and nutritious the product. Because of smaller yield along with increased labor cost from frequent cutting, some sacrifice of quality must be made in the interest of greater yields. Consequently, plants are harvested for hay at an intermediate stage when neither yield nor quality is at its maximum. The best time to harvest the grasses, clover, and alfalfa for hay is ordinarily some time between early bloom and full bloom. Sweetclover should be cut in the bud stage to avoid subsequent coarse growth. Crops that are heavy producers of seed, such as cereals, soybeans, and cowpeas should be cut at a later stage. Cereals should be cut for hay when the grain is in the soft- to medium-dough stage, soybeans when the beans are about half grown, and cowpeas when the first pods are mature. When a hay of very high quality is required, grasses and alfalfa are sometimes harvested before they bloom. Cutting alfalfa in the bud or tenth-bloom stages reduces the vigor and stand as compared with cutting at full bloom. The injury from early or frequent cutting is due to the depletion of organic food reserves in the roots.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION: The compositionof hay changes with advance toward maturity. The amounts of protein and minerals are higher, and the amounts of the less valuable crude fiber is lower, in young than in old plants.
The crude fiber (chiefly cellulose) of young plants, as in immature pasture herbage, appears to be largely digestible. As the plant matures, a progressively greater proportion of the crude fiber is made up of less digestible lignin, which lowers the net nutritive value of the plant. Increased growth of small grains beyond the medium-dough stage is more than offset by shattering of kernels, loss of leaves, leaching, and general deterioration of plant structure. Close associations are evident between the contents of fiber and stems; of total ash calcium, and leaves; and of phosphorus, crude protein, and nitrogen-free extract, and heads.
The carotene content, a measure of vitamin A potency, is higher in early stages of leafy growth because the leaves contain more carotene than the stems, and old leaves lose carotene. In alfalfa, clover, and timothy hays, vitamin B and G decrease as the plant matures. In general these vitamins are correlated with the leafiness, greenness, and protein content of the plant. In fact, vitamin D is the only one to show a gain in the sun-cured forage as compared with the green forage.
Cutting hay in late afternoon may avoid the depletion of food materials from the leaves and stems by translocation to the roots and by repiration during the nigh when photosynthesis is suspended. Practical conditions of curing hay favor morning cutting despite these assumed small losses.
And that some explanations articles on Stage Of Maturity For Harvesting. Hopefully can improve the knowledge of the reader. . .
HAPPY LEARNING. . . .
SOURCE:
Book Principles of Field Crop Production | John H. Martin - Warren H. Leonard | COLLIER Macmillan (1967)
Book Principles of Field Crop Production | John H. Martin - Warren H. Leonard | COLLIER Macmillan (1967)
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