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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Kimberly, Idaho » Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #73252
Title: VOLATILES FROM FRESH AND AIR-DRIED VEGETATIVE TISSUES OF TALL FESCUE (FESTUCA ARUNDINACEA SCHREB.):RELATIONSHIP TO CATTLE PREFERENCE

Author
item FLATH, ROBERT - USDA-ARS (RETIRED)
item Mayland, Henry
item Shewmaker, Glenn

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Grazing cattle eat an assortment of plants, often preferring some varieties and disliking others. These choices are thought to be partly related to plant odors and flavors. About 50 aroma-related compounds were found in fresh fescue grass varieties, and nearly 100 in dried fescue hay. Some of the minor compounds in these mixtures appear to be involved in foraging cattle's preferences for some of these varieties over others. If so, then cattle might be encouraged to eat more of some forage plant if attractive natural compounds are applied. Additional testing will show whether this approach will work in practice.

Technical Abstract: Grazing cattle exhibit preferences for some pasture plants and aversions to others. Such choices are likely related to perceived physical and chemical features of the plants. In an effort to relate previously determined cattle foraging preferences among eight different endophyte- free tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) cultivars with differences in the volatile emissions profiles from the same cultivars, a headspace sampling approach was applied. The released volatile compound complexes from each of the eight cultivars, both fresh and air dried, were collected on Tenax-TA, then examined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and GC/flame ionization detector chromatography (GC/FID). Components were separated, identified, and semiquantified. No major differences were detected among the cultivars. The same group of components was common to all, and quantitative differences were not dramatic. Correlation efforts did relate several low-concentration components with the cattle preference ranking.