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Significance of Parts Other Than Blades and Stems in Leaf-stem Separations of Alfalfa Herbage¹

Leaf-stem separations of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) herbage have been widely used, but designation of petioles, stipules, stem tips, and reproductive structures as leaves or stems has been inconsistent. The objective of this study was to characterize this material and thus establish a basis for including it with either the leaf blades or stems.

Alfalfa herbage from the vegetative to the seedpod stages of development was separated into three fractions (blades, stems minus 3 cm of tip, and "other parts") and analyzed to determine the total herbage represented by each part and the percentage in vitro true digestibility (IVTD) and crude protein (CP). From the bud through the seedpod stages the other parts represented a nearly constant 11% of the total herbage dry matter and contributed about 9 g of IVTD dry matter and 2 g of CP for every 100 g of herbage. The IVTD of the other parts was generally zero to five percentage units lower than that of the blades, but as much as 25 percentage units higher than the stems minus tips. The CP content of the other parts ranged from four to eight percentage units below the blades and from four to eight percentage units above the stems without tips. For the narrow range of cultivars and environments represented in this study, a two-way separation which removes stems minus the tip from the rest of the alfalfa herbage both combines morphological parts of similar digestibilities and facilitates a simple estimation of blade content.

Key Words: Medicago sativa L. • Morphological separations • Digestibility • Crude protein • Leaf to stem ratio

² Assistant professor and laboratory technician(now research assistant, Dept. of Range Sci., Utah State U., Logan, UT 84321), respectively, Dept of Agron., Cornell U. This publication was supported in part by the Natl. Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, through a grant (NSF GB-34718) to the U. of Calif. and subcontracted to Cornell U. The findings, opinions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U. of Calif., the Natl. Science Foundation, or the Environmental Protection Agency.

Received for publication August 24, 1974.

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