01868naa a2200193 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000180006024500420007826000090012052013380012965000110146765000200147865000130149865000140151165000200152565300120154577301170155717844911995-06-13       1974    bl ---       0--  u    #d1 aBURTON, G. W.  aImproving forage quality by breeding.  c1974  aForage quality may be defined as the degree of excellence of a forage when fed to animals. The forage quality of a species may be improved genetically by increasing its resistance to leaf-destroying diseases and insects; removing such anti-1uality components as coumarin; restructuring the plant with simply inherited characters, such as dwarfness, to increase leaf percent; altering its day-lenght response to delay maturity; increasing such constituents as protein, carotene, and xanthophyll; improving its palatability or intake; increasing its digestibility; and improving its utilization. Generally the desired traits must be discovered in germplasm collection and must be transferred from a donor plant to a better forage by hybridization, genetic recombination, and selection of the desirable recombinants. Usually large populations must be screened if the best recombinants are to be found. The pestologist, chemist, and animal nutritionist should help develop efficient screening methods. The IVDMD (in vitro dry matter digestibility) of a representative forage sample apperars to be the best practical,,, inexpensive method of estimating its quality. However, well-designed feeding tests carried out with the assistence of animal scientists must finally be used to characterize the quality of the most promising selections.  aforage  anutritive value  aForragem  aQualidade  aValor Nutritivo  aQuality  tIn: INTERNATIONAL GRASSLAND CONGRESS, 12., 1974, Moscou. Proceedings. Moscou: [s.n.] 1974. Section 7. p.705-714.