Table 4.

Effect of harvesting pea hay (Pisum sativum L.; c.v. CDC Horizon) at EARLY, MID, and LATE maturities on body weight, DMI, and eating behavior for yearling beef heifers

Variable	EARLY1	MID	LATE	SEM	P-value
Body weight, kg
Initial	346	343	343	17.2	0.66
Final	368	366	366	19.3	0.91
DMI (total diet), kg/d	8.5	8.3	9.1	0.52	0.59
DMI (pea hay only), kg/d	3.0	3.3	3.4	0.22	0.54
Behavior1
Eating time, min/d	442	479	484	15.4	0.17
Eating time, min/kg DM	53.9	58.2	53.3	4.65	0.69
Eating time, min/kg aNDFOM	127.7	130.5	148.0	11.04	0.095
Ruminating time, min/d	403a	366b	321c	7.7	<0.001
Ruminating time, min/kg DM	49.3a	44.3ab	36.4b	3.63	0.016
Ruminating time, min/kg aNDFOM	116.6a	98.8b	97.4b	7.77	0.006
Drinking time, min/d	8	10	11	21.3	0.91
Sorting index2 %
> 19 mm	114.85	101.24	99.52	4.616	0.089
< 19, > 8 mm	101.80	100.38	98.80	5.480	0.62
< 8, > 4 mm	61.25b	99.8a	101.89a	9.249	0.024
< 4	28.54b	95.30a	94.27a	14.34	0.017

¹Harvest maturities consisted of EARLY (plants with flat pods at one or more nodes), MID (filled pods at one or more nodes and leaves that were turning from green to gold), and LATE (yellow dry seeds filled pods on most nodes, and the leaves and pods were yellow).

²Sorting index was calculated as (actual consumed)/(theoretical consumed) × 100, as described by Leonardi and Armentano (2003).

^abcMeans within a row with uncommon superscripts are different (P < 0.05).