Abstract
Plants of phasey bean, Macroptilium lathyroides, grown in pots under normal irrigation, flooding and drought conditions were offered for their dry weight determination, chemical analysis and in vitro digestibility measurement. Samples of leaves and stems were taken in the manner described previously (NAGASHIRO et al. 1992. J. Japan. Grassl. Sci. 38, 207). When compared with the case of normal irrigation, the flooding brought about the increase of dry weight of stems which resulted from their elongation and thickening, and hence, in the chemical composition, enhanced the proportion of structural carbohydrates in stem DM and diminished its CP content. The drought ceased growth and led, contrarily to the flooding effect, to increase the CP content of stems. The in vitro digestibilities of DM, OM, and CP in the flooded plants were lower than those in the normally irrigated plants, but those in the drought suffered plants were similar or higher than in the control plants. The influence of flooding and drought was discussed on the basis of nutrient yields and digestible nutrients yields calculated.
