Calcium/Magnesium Ratio and Water Potential Effects On Forage Quality and Pectin Content.

Forage quality is an important parameter in animal nutrition, and depends, partly, on soil fertility and moisture. Acidic soil pH and low soil moisture are known to decrease forage yield and quality. Liming is a common practice to correct the soil pH. Addition of lime not only improves the availability of nutrients but at the same time increases soil calcium and magnesium. Calcium is known to strengthen the cell wall through cross-linking pectates. Within pectins of lower degree of esterification (DE), there is an increasing probability for the formation of cross-links with increased Ca uptake. Our objective was to determine the effect of Soil calcium/magnesium ratio and two water potentials on forage quality of a Sudan grass/red clover mixture. We hypothesized that increasing the calcium/magnesium ratio would increase forage pectin content. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse as a completely randomized design with nine calcium/magnesium ratio maintained at two water potential levels with five replications.