Table 1. Effects of shrub coverage on chemical composition (DM basis unless otherwise stated, %) of forage in alpine meadows.
| Item | Shrub coverage | SEM | p-value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | Low | Middle | High | Treatment | Linear | Quadratic | ||
| DM (% as fresh) | 39.15 | 40.99 | 39.60 | 40.20 | 1.082 | 0.843 | 0.841 | 0.612 |
| CP | 10.31 | 10.46 | 9.01 | 9.33 | 0.461 | 0.636 | 0.306 | 0.956 |
| Gross energy (MJ/kg DM) | 17.16 | 17.19 | 17.39 | 16.73 | 0.143 | 0.378 | 0.582 | 0.218 |
| Organic matter | 92.95 | 92.90 | 93.58 | 93.50 | 1.395 | 0.650 | 0.270 | 0.937 |
| NDF | 63.14 | 63.30 | 63.66 | 62.32 | 1.563 | 0.822 | 0.646 | 0.470 |
| ADF | 62.52 | 61.77 | 62.22 | 60.00 | 1.019 | 0.462 | 0.449 | 0.480 |
| WSC | 13.22 | 13.01 | 13.45 | 12.88 | 0.331 | 0.450 | 0.681 | 0.327 |
| Ether extract | 3.23 | 3.34 | 3.07 | 3.10 | 0.077 | 0.589 | 0.342 | 0.759 |
SEM, standard error of the mean; DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; ADF, acid detergent fiber; WSC, water soluble carbohydrate.