Les cultures dérobées : des fourrages de qualité nutritive intéressante

Spring relay crops can provide complementary forage, especially during periods when traditional forage is lacking. However, little is known about their nutritional value. The Arvalis Plant Institute and INRA each carried out a study on the nutritional qualities of several intercrop species. They found that fresh forage harvested at the vegetative stage was highly nutritional (containing as much as 1.13 French feed units for lactation, 158 g of metabolisable protein [PDIE], and 225 g of rumen degradable protein [PDIN] per kg DM). Silage can be made despite the forage’s low dry matter content and high buffering capacity (Agroscope study). In Wallonia, the quality of intercrop silage is good (0.76 French feed units for lactation, 102 g of metabolisable protein [PDIE], 81 g of rumen degradable protein [PDIN] per kg DM). Many of the study species contained secondary compounds, which can improve livestock health and livestock product quality. They can also reduce negative environmental impacts.