Table 5.

Effect of harvesting pea hay (Pisum sativum L.; c.v. CDC Horizon) at EARLY, MID, and LATE maturities on ruminal pH and SCFA concentrations in beef cattle

Variable	EARLY1	MID	LATE	SEM	P-value
pH
Minimum	5.87	5.72	5.67	0.126	0.074
Maximum	7.06	6.99	6.87	0.062	0.11
Mean	6.59a	6.40b	6.30c	0.118	0.005
Total SCFA, mM	91.2	101.2	97.3	9.97	0.24
SCFA, mol/100 mol
Acetate	63.68	63.65	62.28	1.545	0.78
Propionate	19.88	21.32	21.67	2.721	0.87
Isobutyrate	0.88	0.85	0.77	0.093	0.73
Butyrate	11.85	11.08	11.35	1.353	0.89
Isovalerate	1.77	1.85	1.45	0.236	0.42
Valerate	1.50	1.30	1.70	0.690	0.53
Caproate	0.23b	0.15b	0.27a	0.127	<0.001

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).

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