Agronomic trial reveals that harvesting sesame forage at 72 days optimizes dry yield and nutrient profile, highlighting its potential as a livestock feed alternative.
Key Points
To evaluate and compare the dry forage yield and chemical composition of sesame forage harvested at three distinct growth stages in the dry tropics of Mexico.
Evaluated sesame forage (Sesamum indicum L.) harvested at 58 (A58), 65 (A65), and 72 (A72) days of age in the dry tropics of Mexico.
Conducted the experiment using a completely randomized design and analyzed nutritional and yield variables via ANOVA and Duncan's tests (p < 0.05).
Forage harvested at 72 days (A72) achieved significantly greater dry forage yield (4,940.00 vs. 4,075.86 kg ha⁻¹), dry matter (198.81 vs. 171.41 g kg⁻¹), organic matter (928.64 vs. 918.57 g kg⁻¹), and ether extract (112.81 vs. 52.88 g kg⁻¹) compared to 58-day forage (A58; all p < 0.05).
Forage at A72 had significantly lower ash (71.36 vs. 81.43 g kg⁻¹), acid detergent fiber (377.28 vs. 407.53 g kg⁻¹), and cellulose (226.21 vs. 258.50 g kg⁻¹) than A58 (p < 0.05), while total digestible nutrients (623.23 vs. 610.34 g kg⁻¹) and neutral detergent fiber (485.11 vs. 501.97 g kg⁻¹) were similar (p > 0.05).
Crude protein content at A72 was 102.17 g kg⁻¹, which was slightly lower by 5.40 g kg⁻¹ compared to A58 (p < 0.05).
Cite This Study
Alonso-Galeana et al. (2026) studied this question.