Determination of Herbage Yield, Nutrient Composition and Optimum Harvesting Date of Pastures in Kars District

The present study was conducted to determine the herbage yield, nutrient contents and optimum harvesting date of pastures in Kars district. Herbage samples were harvested from pastures on June 22, July 2, 12 and 21. Fresh herbage yields were found to be 723, 829, 824 and 599 kg/da, while dry matter yields were 193, 218, 231 and 185 kg/da, respectively, according to the harvesting date. It was found that, depending on the progression ofharvesting date, organic matter (90.71, 91.41, 91.02 and 91.61%), crude ash (9.29, 8.59, 8.98 and 8.39%), ether extract (2.63, 2.69, 3.01 and 3.03%) and nitrogen-free extract (43.98, 46.16, 45.57 and 46.79%) were not changed significantly, while crude protein (13.94, 11.67, 10.48 and 9.14%) decreased significantly (P 0.001), but crude fibre (30.15, 30.89, 31.96 and 32.66%), NDF (48.23, 51.40, 52.96 and 53.77%) and ADF (33.70, 35.22, 37.85 and 39.77%) increased significantly (P 0.001). The amounts of total organic matter obtained from the per unit field were not changed according to the progression of the harvesting date, while the amount of crude protein on the latest date was higher than those ofother dates (P 0.05), as well as the contents of NDF on the second and third harvesting date were higher than that of the first harvesting date (P 0.05). Considering the production traits, it is concluded that, the nutrient contents and total nutrient amounts obtained from per unit field from 22 June to 12 July was more favourable for crude protein, while the time from June 22 to July 2 was more convenient for structural carbohydrates. However, researches are encouraged to conduct digestion studies in the future for drawing more reliable conclusions.