INTAKE AND DIGESTIBILITY OF NITROGEN-FERTILIZED GRASS HAYS BY WETHERS
Conventional digestion experiments were conducted with wethers to determine the effects of varying nitrogen fertilizer application rates to grass on the intake and digestibility of mature grass hays.Nitrogen fertilizer rates had little effect on dry matter intake.The apparent digestibility of crude protein increased and that of dry matter and nitrogen-free extract decreased linearly (P < 0.01) with increasing nitrogen fertilizer rates.The mean dry matter intake was greater (P < 0.01) per unit body weight and less (P < 0.01) per unit metabolic body size (wt. 0.75) than that previously reported for concurrent digestion experiments with steer calves fed these forages. The apparent digestibility of the dry matter, crude protein, crude fiber, and nitrogen-free extract was less (P < 0.01) in wethers than in steers. There were no significant interactions of species × nitrogen rates for intake and nutrient digestibility.