Resumen 248

Eys,JE-van; Ginting,-S; Pulungan,-H; Johnson,-WL; Van-Eys,-JE

Res. Inst. for Animal Production, Bogor, Indonesia.

Proceedings of the XV International Grassland Congress, August 24-31, 1985, Kyoto, Japan. 1985, 1296-1297; 8 ref. Nishi-nasuno, Tochigi, Japan; Science Council of Japan and Japanese Society of Grassland Science.

Four tropical grasses and 1 legume were given with 0 or 60 kg S/ha. Leaves and stems of 6- and 9-week-old regrowth were harvested separately from replicated plots and used to study the effect of S on in vitro DM and NDF digestion. The overall effect of S application was negative and most pronounced for leaves. There were large differences among forages. DM digestibility at 48 h was significantly reduced for fertilized Panicum maximum and Setaria anceps [S. sphacelata var. sericea] but NDF digestion at 96 h was only lower for P. maximum. DM digestibility of stems was not affected by fertilization but NDF disappearance of Pennisetum purpureum stems decreased significantly. S application had no effect on lag of NDF digestion but rate of NDF digestion for stems and leaves was significantly reduced. The effect was especially large for Centrosema pubescens. It was suggested that the negative effects of S application are associated with changes in the structural components of the forages and the source of the rumen inoculum.