THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ALFALFA HAY IN SOME DAIRY COW FARMS FROM MOŢCA VILLAGE (IAŞI COUNTY)

Raluca Elena Donosă

Abstract
The alfalfa hay represents an important fodder in dairy cows feeding both in winter and grazing time.
In this study we focused on the dynamics of the basic indexes of nutritive and energetic value of alfalfa hay used in dairy cows diet from some small farms from Motca village. The alfalfa hay samples were collected from the dairy farms which participated in a dairy cows feeding improvement research. The alfalfa hay samples were analysed using the classical schema of Proximate Analysis.
The crude chemical content of alfalfa hay among farms had a low variability. The average values for all three farms were 878.12 g DM/ kg of hay, 159.04 g CP/ kg DM, 23.55 g EE/ kg DM, 363.67 g CF/ kg DM, 366.52 g NFC/ kg DM. The highest level of CP was recorded in Bechir Elena farm (2005- 1^st cycle) and Zaharia Maricica farm (2007- 2^nd cycle) when alfalfa hay was harvested in the phase of before budding. The lowest level of CP (and highest of CF level) was recorded in Andriesi Viorel farm (2004- 2^nd cycle) when the alfalfa was harvested in an advanced vegetation phase.
The values obtained for ENL varied between 1049 and 1158 kcal/ kg DM (0.62- 0.68 UFL/ kg DM) and the ones for ENV varied between 940 and 1068 kcal/ kg DM (0.52- 0.59 UFC/ kg DM). The protein content had a low variability between the three farms. The PDIN values were 83- 114 g/ kg DM and the ones for PDIE varied between 82- 96 g/ kg DM.
The nutritive values of the alfalfa hay used in the studied dairy cow farms from Motca village has similar and in some cases lower values than the ones presented by the specific literature for this fodder.

Key words: alfalfa hay, chemical composition, nutritive value