Table 3. 3-Year Mean Composition of Coniiiiercial and Essex Varieties 



of Timothy Fertilized With Different Levels of Nitrogen 



and Harvested on Different Dates. 



* There was not enough yield of forage to cut for digestion and utilization experiment. 



Table 4 shows the average digestibilities of the chemical components 

 of the forages over the three-year period of the experiment. Delay of 

 harvest decreased the digestibility of all components, the decrease in 

 protein and fiber being most pronounced. 



Tal)le 5 contains data on the average nutritive values of the timothy 

 cuttings : 



1. The percentage of total digestible nutrients decreased between 

 0.35 and 0.50 percentage units with each day's delay in harvesting the 

 forage after June 1st, thus confirming previous results (6) . 



2. Rate of nitrogen fertilization did not materially influence the 

 energy utilization. Date of cutting, however, greatly affected the digest- 

 ible, metabolizable and net energy of each hay. 



