. 2019 Jul 12;97(8):3286–3299. doi: 10.1093/jas/skz206

Table 2.

Daily dry matter intake, digestibility of hay constituents (on a dry matter basis), and enteric methane (CH₄) emissions for cows and heifers

	Forage source¹
	Tannin-containing hays			Non-tannin-containing hays
Item	BFT	SAN	SML	ALF	CMV	MB	SEM	P-value
Experiment 1: cows (n = 3 cows/forage source)
Dry matter intake, g/kg of body weight²	14.7	12.4	14.1	15.8	14.2	10.8	1.26	0.167
Digestibility of hay constituents
Dry matter, %	66.7^ab	57.3^c	56.6^c	58.4^bc	68.1^a	62.8^abc	3.32	0.101
Organic matter, %	60.5^bc	55.8^c	67.4^ab	58.8^c	57.9^c	71.1^a	2.96	0.022
Crude protein, %	76.5^a	63.0^b	30.2^c	73.4^a	79.4^a	61.6^b	4.23	<0.001
Neutral detergent fiber, %	48.1^ab	21.1^c	26.0^c	29.1^c	36.1^bc	56.8^a	6.39	0.013
Acid detergent fiber, %	39.3^bc	20.9^c	31.8^bc	29.7^bc	44.1^ab	55.8^a	6.11	0.015
CH₄ emissions
CH₄, g/animal/d	308.2	290.5	208.6	289.3	265.5	259.4	44.60	0.505
CH₄, g/kg of dry matter intake	33.6^a	36.7^a	21.3^b	27.8^ab	31.8^a	37.8^a	4.21	0.055
CH₄, g/kg of body weight	0.49	0.47	0.30	0.47	0.42	0.39	0.060	0.157
CH₄, % of gross energy intake	9.8^a	10.3^a	6.3^b	8.2^ab	9.6^a	11.5^a	1.22	0.058
Experiment 2: heifers (n = 3 heifers/forage source)
Dry matter intake g/kg of body weight	21.2^ab	18.3^bc	15.3^d	22.5^a	18.2^bc	16.2^cd	1.26	0.005
Digestibility of hay constituents
Dry matter, %	64.0^ab	57.2^bc	50.2^d	56.3^cd	67.1^a	54.1^cd	2.66	0.008
Organic matter, %	67.2^a	58.1^bc	63.9^a	53.0^c	59.8^ab	63.2^ab	3.82	0.050
Crude protein, %	76.5^a	63.0^bc	30.2^d	73.4^ab	79.4^a	61.6^c	4.23	<0.001
Neutral detergent fiber, %	42.9^a	28.9^b	22.7^b	28.1^b	45.3^a	45.7^a	5.18	0.026
Acid detergent fiber, %	42.3^a	28.9^b	27.9^b	27.7^b	50.0^a	42.7^a	5.23	0.039
CH₄ emissions
CH₄, g/animal/d	255.8^a	223.4^a	179.9^b	257.9^a	227.4^a	245.9^a	22.18	0.054
CH₄, g/kg of dry matter intake	27.1^b	26.9^b	26.7^b	34.8^b	28.2^b	36.8^a	4.54	0.089
CH₄, g/kg of body weight	0.59	0.49	0.41	0.52	0.45	0.53	0.070	0.398
CH₄ % of gross energy intake	7.9^b	7.6^b	7.9^b	6.9^b	8.5^b	11.2^a	1.00	0.095

^a–dMeans in the same row with different superscripts differ (P ≤ 0.10).

¹Treatment: birdsfoot trefoil (BFT), cicer milkvetch (CMV), meadow bromegrass (MB), alfalfa (ALF), sainfoin (SAN), and small burnet (SML).

²Five cows were utilized for dry matter intake.