
%0 Journal Article
%A McCGraham, N 
%T The net energy value of three subtropical forages
%J Australian Journal of Agricultural Research
%D 1967/02/01
%V 18
%N 1
%P 137-147
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AR9670137
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AR9670137 
%X Energy and nitrogen balance experiments with three subtropical forages, a legume and two grasses, are reported. Each forage was given to four sheep at several levels of feeding. One of the forages had a low nitrogen content (4&#37; crude protein) and was supplemented with urea and molasses containing 7 g nitrogen and 56 kcal/day. This caused voluntary consumption to increase by 50% and digestibility of all chemical constituents to increase by 6&ndash;12 units. Utilization of metabolizable energy for maintenance also improved by approximately 10%. Digestible energy (42&ndash;62&#37;) was predicted quite accurately from chemical composition by means of published equations which refer to forages grown in temperate climates. Metabolizable energy was close to 82&#37; of digestible energy, as found with non-tropical forages. Net availability of metabolizable energy for maintenance ranged from a very low 60&#37; to 80&#37;. It was predicted more accurately from percentage metabolizable energy than from digestible crude fibre: the reverse applied to net availability for production (40&ndash;50&#37;). 
