Alternative forage feeds for beef cattle in Northwestern Alberta, Canada: forage yield and nutritive value of forage brassicas and forbs

Figures & data

Table 1. Soil characteristics (0–15 cm depth), spring soil moisture and temperature at seeding in 2018 and 2019.

Parameter	2018	2019
Nutrients and quality
Organic matter (%)	6.4	8.2
pH (1:2.5 H2O)	6.8	6.2
Electrical conductivity (dS m^−1)	0.39	0.21
Nitrate-N (kg/ha)	46	11.2
P (Bray 1-P method) (kg/ha)	36	15.7
K (kg/ha)	400	543
Sulphate-S (kg/ha)	18	10.1
Total exchangeable cations (meq/100 g)	13	17.9
Cation saturation
Ca (%)	64	53.5
Mg (%)	22.7	16.2
Na (%)	1.2	0.7
K (%)	3.5	3.5
Base saturation (%)	91.5	73.2
Spring soil moisture (%)
0–5 cm	12.0	12.4
0–20 cm	12.2	14.1
Spring soil temperature (^oC)
0–5 cm	10.4	9.19
0–20 cm	8.61	7.79

Table 2. Monthly mean precipitation, and maximum and minimum air temperatures during the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons; and long-term averages (LTA, from 1995 to 2019).

Measurement	2018	2019	LTA	2018	2019	LTA	2018	2019	LTA
	Rainfall (mm)			Maximum temperature (^oC)			Minimum temperature (^oC)
May	4.70	7.40	38.7	21.4	18.2	16.4	4.82	3.4	3.39
June	77.3	72.9	63.5	20.9	20.3	20.2	8.85	7.83	7.73
July	108.5	61.9	66.7	21.9	20.6	22.0	10.3	9.15	9.54
August	23.3	49.1	45.5	21.7	18.8	21.0	7.19	7.15	8.21
Total	213.8	191.3	214.4

Table 3. Forage moisture level, yield, crude protein (CP, DM basis) and CP fractions (DM basis) as affected by crop and year.

Crop	Moisture %	DM yield (kg ha^−1)	CP (%)	CP fractions
				Sol-CP (%)	ADF-CP (%)	NDF-CP (%)	UIP %
Barkant turnips	89.0	4201	23.5	48.8	0.44	1.52	27.1
Bayou Kale Cross	88.5	4643	22.7	36.3	2.95	3.26	36.6
Buckwheat	77.3	10740	12.2	35.5	1.68	5.15	38.1
Chicory	87.1	2953	23.3	34.9	1.92	6.19	41.5
Daikon Radish	86.1	7320	15.9	51.8	0.75	2.54	25.6
Forage Collards	82.7	5423	18.1	36.5	1.11	4.22	36.3
Inka Brand Marrowstem Kale	80.5	6835	15.4	35.6	1.66	5.08	36.8
Malwira Turnip Rape	88.2	4339	14.0	45.8	0.52	1.83	29.3
Phacelia	78.9	5826	16.6	38.8	1.70	5.29	35.0
Plantain	84.1	3073	19.0	37.7	2.76	6.15	30.0
Purple Top Turnips	90.0	4209	21.5	45.4	1.23	3.43	29.6
Tillage Radish	84.1	6351	13.4	49.8	1.34	3.87	29.7
Vivant Forage Brassica	87.4	4200	19.2	48.8	1.07	2.97	27.9
Winfred	88.4	6753	19.3	45.3	0.90	2.42	29.6
LSD0.05	3.08	1250	7.46	12.8	2.26	3.05	10.4
Coefficient of variation, CV,%	3.12	19.9	19.1	12.7	66.5	33.1	14.0

Table 4. Forage detergent fiber and energy content (DM basis), and digestibility (DM basis) for brassicas and forbs as affected by crop.

Crop	ADF (%)	NDF (%)	TDN (%)	NEm (Mcal kg^−1)	NDFD 24-h (%)	NDFD 48-h (%)	NDF Disappearance (Rate %)	RFV (%)
Barkant turnips	16.6	22.5	76.8	1.92	50.1	52.8	7.16	342
Bayou Kale Cross	18.9	33.9	77.9	1.91	54.5	71.5	5.98	204
Buckwheat	38.8	57.0	59.1	1.40	48.6	60.4	4.67	96
Chicory	27.2	43.3	69.8	1.68	50.8	58.8	6.06	146
Daikon Radish	24.6	32.9	71.1	1.79	52.3	59.8	7.51	125
Forage Collards	23.2	36.8	73.8	1.77	57.8	67.4	7.76	179
Inka Brand Marrowstem Kale	35.5	41.6	66.9	1.48	51.0	55.9	7.13	151
Malwira Turnip Rape	17.3	24.7	76.6	1.90	60.8	77.5	8.43	218
Phacelia	38.8	55.3	58.8	1.42	37.4	43.8	4.15	99
Plantain	29.9	40.0	67.5	1.62	53.5	65.8	5.21	152
Purple Top Turnips	21.1	28.9	74.1	1.82	49.1	54.7	8.42	262
Tillage Radish	34.5	51.6	66.2	1.51	48.7	60.0	5.29	112
Vivant Forage Brassica	20.7	29.2	74.2	1.83	49.0	51.0	10.54	245
Winfred	21.7	29.8	73.8	1.80	53.6	55.6	6.73	252
LSD0.05	5.94	8.39	6.47	0.15	5.25	6.84	4.33	63.8
Coefficient of variation, %	9.69	3.06	2.36	4.21	3.88	4.09	2.37	16.7

Table 5. Mineral (DM basis) and nitrate (DM basis) content of forage brassicas and forbs as affected by crop and year.

Crop	Ca (%)	P (%)	Ca:P ratio	K (%)	Mg (%)	Na (%)	NO3-N (%)
Barkant turnip	1.95	0.30	6.91	3.34	0.39	0.21	0.00
Bayou Kale Cross	1.14	0.49	2.28	4.00	0.24	0.07	0.36
Buckwheat	1.40	0.25	5.74	2.19	0.53	0.02	0.00
Chicory	1.74	0.29	6.03	3.68	0.51	1.01	0.26
Daikon Radish	0.77	0.37	2.24	2.31	0.25	0.04	0.04
Forage Collard	1.31	0.34	3.85	2.66	0.23	0.05	0.04
Inka Brand Marrowstem Kale	3.20	0.34	9.08	2.87	0.38	0.03	0.00
Malwira Turnip Rape	1.76	0.29	5.96	3.19	0.33	0.03	0.00
Phacelia	2.90	0.25	11.4	3.09	0.56	0.02	0.56
Plantain	1.52	0.23	6.43	2.13	0.41	0.27	0.35
Purple Top Turnip	3.01	0.33	9.88	3.97	0.56	0.31	0.29
Tillage Radish	1.69	0.26	6.76	2.09	0.50	0.19	0.15
Vivant Forage Brassica	1.90	0.29	6.76	2.60	0.37	0.71	0.02
Winfred	1.95	0.35	5.76	3.26	0.75	0.25	0.53
LSD0.05	1.83	0.10	6.37	1.35	0.42	0.37	0.16
Coefficient of variation, %	51.2	14.7	47.4	31.8	48.3	96.6	11.7