Determination of forage quality with near-infrared spectroscopy - new SUSALPS publication

The provision of forage is an important ecosystem service of grasslands for the dairy production. However, forage quality is rarely determined in species-rich grasslands. This is mainly due to the complex chemical determination method as well as the costs and workload associated with the analysis.

The SUSALPS team, led by Bernd Berauer from the University of Bayreuth, has studied an alternative method for determining various forage quality parameters. They were able to show that visible near-infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIRS) can be used to determine the content of ash, fat and proteins in forage. The vis-NIRS method uses the spectral properties of the forage sample to determine the above mentioned quality parameters. The results of the study were published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.