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Histological Examination of Fresh Forage Leaves After in vitro Digestion¹

All anatomical components except the cuticle, trichomes, xylem, fibers, and bundle sheaths were digested after in vitro leaf digestion of Avena sativa L., Secale cereale L., Lolium multiflorum Lam., Poa pratensis L., Dactylis glomerata L., and Festuca elatior L. for 24 hours; Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.) Stapf and C. E. Hubb. for 48 hours; and Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. for 96 hours. Some breakdown of the bundle sheath in bermudagrass occurred. The outer thin-walled parenchymatic bundle sheath but not the inner sheath of the cool-season grasses was digested. The larger cells, less compact arrangement, and larger intercellular spaces of the mesophyll of cool-season grasses as compared to bermudagrass or pearl millet appeared to allow the microorganism to be in contact with a larger surface area in a given time. These mesophyll characteristics may explain why the rate of digestion was faster in the cool-season grasses than in pearl millet and bermudagrass.

Observations on the arrangement of mesophyll in ‘Tift 18’ and ‘Tift 23’ pearl millet and on the patterns of digestion would indicate that digestibility could be increased by breeding for certain cell arrangements.

Key Words: Rumen microorganisms • Pearl millet • Bermudagrass • Cool-season grasses

² Research Geneticist, Research Agronomist and Research Geneticist, ARS, USDA, and the University of Georgia, College of Agriculture Experiment Stations, Coastal Plain Station, Tifton, Ga.

Received for publication July 27, 1972.

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