Abstract
A series of trials has been carried out over a ten-year period to determine the level of voluntary intake and digestibility of clipped alfalfa fed at several growth stages to wethers. The samples consisted of 19 first cuttings and 38 aftermaths. Forage and feces were fractionated into cell wall (CW) and cell content (CC) with neutral detergent solution, then digestibility of CW, CC and their digestible amount were determined. The change in the amount of digestible dry matter (DDM) in alfalfa was related to the amount of digestible CC and indigestible CW, however, digestible CW was observed to have little relation. Fecal CW excretion (g/day/kg^<0.75>) in their full intake was about 18g, varied little between the first cutting in spring and aftermath. An average true digestibility of CC was 96%, and endogenous and bacterial excretion of dry matter amounted to an average of 13% of voluntary intake. One gram of digestible CW was equivalent of 3.73 Calories of digestible energy and one gram of digestible CC was 4.32 Calories.
