Determination of Some Plant Characteristics and Feed Value of Drought-Resistant Mountain Swan (Atriplex nitens)

In this study we have determined the effect on feed value of different plant characteristics and harvesting times in Mountain Swan (Atriplex nitens), which is resistant to salinity. The effect of row spacing on stem diameter, plant weight and leaf weight was found to be significant (p<0.01 and p<0.05). Although there was no difference in energy values, both row spacing and harvesting times were found to be significant (p<0.05) in terms of dry matter, ash, protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) values. The highest dry matter content (34.77%) and crude ash (14.92 %) were found in the 40 cm range and the highest crude protein (15.92%) was found in the 20 cm range. The highest NDF (48.02 %), ADF (35.30 %), acid detergent lignin (6.32%) was detected at 60 cm interval. The dry matter ratios which are important for animal nutrition were determined as the highest value at 40, 60 cm row intervals (34.77% and 34.32% respectively) and 36.31% at the 2nd harvest time (03 August 2016). Similar research is needed on this plant. In terms of overall average, dry matter, crude ash, crude protein and crude oil are 33.56%, 14.23%, 14.54% and 1.20%, respectively.