Forage yield and quality of differnt crops under dairy sheep grazing

Five forage source at increasing input level were evaluated in Sardinia (Italy) within a lerger field grazing experiment on the comparioson between raifed forage farming systems: fertilized natural pasture, mixture of Lolium rigidum and Trifolium brachycalicinum pure stand of Hedysarum coronarium. pure stand od Dactylis glomerata, Avena sativa. The crops were grazed by daury sheep and differences were found in DM production and forage quality. The milik production of the ewes grazing on these crops was also affected. The results can be utilized, combining in a more effective and efficient way the herbage availability and quality from different crops with the animal yields, to set up Mediterranean forage systems for dairy sheep.