Plant Factors Affecting Forage Quality

An emphasis on sustainable agricultural systems has refocused efforts onto forages and grasslands including plant factors that affect forage quality. This chapter reviews the growth properties and morphological characteristics of plants used for forages in the broad sense, and considers how physiological processes, anatomy, and morphology interact with biotic and abiotic factors to alter species distribution, growth rates, season of production, and forage quality. Climatic factors alter natural plant distribution among a range of environments, indirectly altering forage quality through the physiological responses of plants which influence adaptation and forage availability. Tiller size, architecture, and reproductive status of grasses are changed with ontogeny and affect the quality of forage harvested or on offer to grazing animals. Plant maturity is the major factor affecting morphology and determining forage quality. Canopy architecture affects the physiological function of forage plants, the forage quality on offer to grazing animals.