Morphology and forage quality in buffel, rhodes, and blue grama grasses in Valle del Mezquital: Grasses of semiarid

The objective of the study was to evaluate the production and quality of forage in buffel (Pennisetum ciliare), rhodes (Chloris gayana) and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) with three defoliation dates at 50, 80 and 110 days after regrowth (dar) in Valle del Mezquital. Crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative forage value (RFV) and metabolic energy (ME) were determined. A completely randomized design with three repetitions was used and Tukey for separation of means (α 0.05) and GLM SAS to analyzer data. The highest forage production occurs in rhodes grass at 110 dar (12936 kg DM ha-1). The highest CP (10.6%) was found in buffel at 50 ddr, in rhodes grass both values (80 and 110) dar the ​​were lower than 7%. The largest RFV were for exotic grasses; however, blue grama registered higher TDN. The lowest ME is operated in rhodes at 80 dar (1.76) and higher for buffel at 50 dar (1.91). The three varieties could defoliate when the plants show intermediate values ​​in yield and nutritional value, that is, after 80 days of regrowth; individually it is recommended to defoliate buffel and rhodes at 50 dar.This study aims to evaluate the production and quality of buffel (Pennisetum ciliare), rhodes (Chloris gayana), and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) forage with three defoliation dates —at 50, 80, and 110 days after regrowth (dar)— in Valle del Mezquital. Crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV), and metabolizable energy (ME) were determined. A completely randomized design with three repetitions, a Tukey test for mean separation (α 0.05), and SAS Proc GLM for data analysis were used. The highest forage production occurs in the rhodes forage at 110 dar (12,936 kg DM ha-1). The highest CP (10.6%) was found in the buffel forage at 50 dar; in the rhodes forage, both values (80 and 110) were lower than 7%. The highest RFV was obtained by exotic grasses; however, higher TDN was recorded for the blue grama grass. Rhodes grass obtained the lowest ME at 80 dar (1.76), while the highest ME was obtained by buffel at 50 dar (1.91). The three varieties can be defoliated when the plants show intermediate yield and nutritional value, i.e., 80 days after the regrowth begins; nevertheless, buffel and rhodes should be defoliated at 50 dar