| Show one of the loose ends of A agriculture 9 ri culture Is hay hay iu in spite of its importance to the farmer has been referred to as one of the loose ends of agriculture because of the slight attention given its improvement in comparison with other important farm crops says 0 0 pollock hay specialist of the united states department of agriculture losses which come from late cutting and improper curing are very real even though not as apparent to the farmer who feeds his hay at home as aa to the man who makes hay a cash crop early cut well cured alfalfa for example has a high 0 percentage of leaves and green color the leaves contain more than two thirds of the protein of the entire plant green color in hay is associated with vitamin A important in animal maintenance and reproduction vitamin A content Is greatly reduced when hay Is discolored from rain sun bleach or improper storage alfalfa leaves left in the sun at the arizona experiment station for less than three hours at noon lost 20 to 33 per cent of vitamin A compared to leaves cured in a ventilated darkened room leaves lying over night lost 75 per cent A further exposure of four hours at noon the next day increased the loss to 84 per cent severely bleached alfalfa exposed for a week to sun and rain lost 94 per cent such a prodigal waste says pollock w would not be tolerated in many other crops |
