24 CIRCULAR 863, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



able feeding value of sericea rather than definitely indicate the 

 value of good sericea hay. 



In Missouri it was found that rather poor sericea hay produced 

 43 pounds less milk per cow per day than the very best alfalfa. 8 

 At the Tennessee station (21) Holstein cows produced about the 

 same amount of milk on sericea as on alfalfa. The gain in weight 

 of Jersey heifers was also the same on sericea as on alfalfa. 

 Horses maintained their weight for several winter months on seri- 

 cea alone, without grain. 



The Virginia station (14-) compared Korean lespedeza and seri- 

 cea hay with alalia. All hays were of good to medium quality. 

 The digestibility of the good hay was higher than that of the 

 medium hay and this difference was more pronounced in the les- 

 pedezas than in alfalfa. For milk production both lespedezas 

 were of about equal value and were 80 percent as efficient as 

 alfalfa. 



In Georgia, Edwards (5) fed ground sericea and ground cowpea 

 hay to lambs and found the sericea 81 percent as efficient as 

 cowpea hay for making gains. No bad effects on health were 

 observed. 



At Beltsville, Md., on the animal husbandry farm a feeding 

 trial with beef steers was conducted in the winter of 1934-35. 9 

 The trial lasted 84 days. A rather poor grade of sericea hay 

 produced in 1933 at Arlington, Va., was available and was fed 

 in comparison to good alfalfa hay. The difference in quality is 

 revealed to some extent at least by the percentage of protein, 

 which for the sericea was 10.24, 10.68, and 11.96 for the three 

 feeding periods and for the alfalfa, 15.69, 16.46, and 13.77 for the 

 corresponding periods. Since the sericea hay had been cut when 

 too mature, it is probable that owing to the high percentage of 

 crude fiber the digestibility of the protein in the sericea was also 

 low. 



The plan was to feed merely a maintenance ration, but the 

 amount fed, 12 pounds per day, proved to be insufficient. At 

 the end of the feeding period the steers fed alfalfa had lost 

 26.3 pounds per head and those fed sericea hay had lost 54.3 

 pounds per head. One steer in the sericea lot was obviously 

 in poor condition. If the record of this steer is eliminated the 

 average loss for the other steers was 41.8 pounds per head. 

 During this trial the weather was very inclement because of 

 snow and sleet, but the cattle had shelter under a shed having 

 a southern exposure. The weather together with the poor quality 

 of sericea hay will in part explain the losses in weight. 



Wylie and Hinton (38) have reported on feeding trials with 

 sericea in four combinations. Three dairy cows were fed all 

 the hay they would consume, as well as fixed amounts of silage 

 and concentrates. Each of the four trials was carried through 



8 C. A. Helm. Letter to the author, August 26, 1936. 



y Work done cooperatively by the Bureaus of Plant Industry and Animal 

 Industry. 



