Charles A. Segelquist

FIBER COMPOSITION AND FORAGE DIGESTIBILITY BY SMALL RUMINANTS

Cell wall constituents (CWC) were usually more plentiful in grasses than in other forages at comparable phenological stages. Acid detergent lignin (ADL) was frequently a greater proportion of the acid detergent fiber (ADF) of browse leaves than of other forages. Forbs and woody twigs usually had intermediate CWC and ADL/ADF values. CWC increased and digestibility decreased as many forages matured. The digestibility of grasses, forbs, many browse leaves, and succulent browse twigs was significantly related to true digestibility as estimated by the summative equation. Dry matter di- gestibility of mature browse twigs was significantly related to cell content values, and estimated values for true digestibility tended to exceed observed values. Foodstuffs vary in degree and rate of digest- ibility largely because of their relative fiber contents. Plants with high CWC levels, especially when combined with high lignin contents, are low-quality forage for small ruminants. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 38(2):197-209 The purposes of the present study were to determine major distinguishing charac- teristics between different types of forages and to relate these characteristics to relative digestibility estimated by the nylon bag technique in ruminally cannulated goats. A large number of grass, forb, twig, and browse leaf samples were analyzed by the comprehensive system of Van Soest (1967), and duplicate samples were subjected to in vivo microdigestion. Since fiber content is known to increase with tissue maturity, forage samples were collected at different seasons. Differences were found among forages in their fiber composition, in the compositional changes associated with in- creased maturity, and in the extent and rate at which the forages were digested. METHODS

DEER FOOD YIELDS IN FOUR OZARK FOREST TYPES

The kind and amount of deer food varied between forest types and with rainfall in an Arkansas Ozark forest. The sparsely timbered cedar glades and bottomland hardwoods produced the most herb- age and evergreen browse. They received heaviest deer use when mast was scarce. The more densely stocked hardwood types grew less forage but were the main source of winter food in good mast years. Average mast yields were 5-10 times greater than average winter browse yields. This paper compares annual and seasonal deer food crops and their importance to deer maintenance in four forest types in the southeastern Ozarks. Data were col- lected within two stocked enclosures, one approximately 600 acres and the other 675 acres in size, on the Sylamore Experimental Forest in north Arkansas. Both enclosures included all four forest types in varying amounts, and the values in this report are for both tracts combined.

Habitat-Deer Relations in Two Ozark Enclosures

In a 600-acre enclosure in Arkansas, severe mortality of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) occurred during the two winters out of five when mast yields were lowest. In a companion enclosure, where forage and mast were more plentiful, deer losses were lower and never exceeded production. In addition to nutritional deficiencies, a likely contributor to losses was respiratory failure, caused by extensive parasitic pulmonary damage and aggravated by the exertion of dog chases. Since 1962, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Southern Forest Experiment Station of the USDA Forest Service have been cooperatively investigating the interrelations between white-tailed deer populations and forest habitat in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Studies in two large enclosures stocked with known numbers of deer are designed to learn how many deer Ozark highland forests can produce under existing and improved systems of timber and game management. This paper deals with factors that are currently limiting deer numbers. F. A. Hayes of the Southeastern Wildlife Disease Study at Athens, Georgia, supervised the performance of the necropsies in the study. W. E. Green and E. Mitchell assisted in data collection and analysis. Personnel of the Sylamore District of the Ozark National Forest under the supervision of W. S. Shuttleworth, H. D. Crawley, and wildlife students from Arkansas Polytechnic College, and many interested individuals who live near the study area assisted in deer census drives.

RUMINO-RETICULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF DEER ON FOOD OF TWO TYPES

Ten white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) that fed mainly on acorns had markedly dif- ferent rumino-reticular (R-R) characteristics from ten that ate mostly grasses and browse. The per- centage of dry matter in R-R contents was significantly greater for deer eating acorns (27 vs. 15 percent). Although deer on the two diets had similar total volatile fatty acid concentrations in rumen liquor, the deer eating acorns had a significantly lower R-R pH (5.5 vs. 5.9) and molar percent of acetic acid (59 vs. 73 percent), while the deer that ate browse and grass had lower R-R levels of propionic (16 vs. 22 percent) and butyric (9 vs. 15 percent) acids. More gas was produced by in vitro fermentations of rumen liquor from acorn-fed than from browse-fed deer. This paper reports rumino-reticular (R-R) characteristics and the results of controlled in vitro fermentations of rumen liquor from

Response of Japanese Honeysuckle to Fertilization

Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) responded to increasing levels of nitrogen fertilizer with substantially increased vegetation yields and crude protein contents in leaves, but fruit yields declined. Fertilization with P205 also increased the crude protein contents of leaves. Ash, calcium, and phosphorus contents of leaves declined as levels of nitrogen were increased, but calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium all responded positively to PsO5. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 39(4):769-775 Japanese honeysuckle is one of the most valuable plants to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) throughout the southeastern United States. It has been found to be the most important year-round food item in the diet of deer in sections of Alabama (Sheldon and Causey 1974) and is especially favored by deer farther north during periods of deep snow (Handley 1945). Its evergreen or tardily deciduous foliage provides much of the total winter forage eaten by deer in the Southern Appalachian, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain regions of the southeast (Harlow and Hooper 1971). In addition, its fruit and dense vegetative growth furnish food and cover for many other species of mammals and birds (Jackson 1974). Because of these desirable characteristics Japanese honeysuckle has considerable potential for wildlife habitat management, especially for deer in even-aged southern pine (Pinus sp.) forests (Sheldon and Causey 1974). This paper evaluates the response of Japanese honeysuckle to several rates and combinations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilizers. Japanese honeysuckle responds very well to cultivation (Segelquist et al. 1971) and has been subjected to a variety of fertilizers (Brunett 1967, P-R Job Completion Rep., Proj. W29-R-14, Louisiana Wildl. Fish. Comm., New Orleans, Craft and Haygood 1972). However, none of these studies has indicated precisely how the yield and nutritive quality of honeysuckle are related to the major plant nutrients. The use of intensive management practices, i.e., fertilized Japanese honeysuckle plantings, to improve wildlife habitat may not be justified presently, at least on a large scale basis, but with increasing efforts to produce more timber on a shrinking commercial forest-land base (Seaton et al. 1973: 7) the need may become greater, especially in the South. Recent projections indicate that timber production in the South must be more than doubled by the year 2000 to meet projected demands (Squires 1969:37). Substantial amounts of money and effort are being expended to see that these goals are attained (Wheeler 1974, Weitzman 1974, White 1974). Even-aged silviculture for both pine and hardwood is one of the principal techniques being advocated to accomplish this increase. The consequences of intensive even-aged management are difficult to predict, but the optimistic pronouncement that there will be an abundance of game in future southern forests (Wheeler 1970:145) should be tempered with the acknowledgment that it is possible, through intensive timber management, to create tree mono1 The study was financed in part by Federal Aid in Fish and Wildlife Restoration, Arkansas Project W-53-R. 2 In cooperation with the School of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas 75961. J. Wildl. Manage. 39(4):1975 769 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.186 on Tue, 12 Apr 2016 10:29:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 770 HONEYSUCKLE RESPONSE TO FERTILIZATION * Segelquist and Rogers cultures with limited mast-producing capability and little understory vegetation of value to wildlife. It may be necessary to resort to equally intensive habitat management practices to maintain deer and other species of wildlife at desired levels in these forests, and fertilized Japanese honeysuckle plantings may provide the biologist with such an alternative.