
TY  - JOUR
A1  - McCGraham, N 
T1  - The net energy value of three subtropical forages
JF  - Australian Journal of Agricultural Research
JO  - Aust. J.  Agric. Res.
Y1  - 1967
VL  - 18
IS  - 1
SP  - 137
EP  - 147
KW  - 
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/AR9670137 
N2  - 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;). 
ER  -

