Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Side 89
SELF-DEPENDENCE IN CATTLEFEEDING 81
per one feed unit, the protein amount required for milk produc-
tion being 120 g. Such a grass, which in practice is very suitable
for cutting, is not satisfactory as a production fodder, unless
supplemented with proteinrich concentrates. If we further bear
m mind that in addition to grass, other forage plants also are
cultivated on every farm for the winter period, and that these
nre generally very poor in protein (e. g. roots containing ap-
proximately 40 g. digestible protein per one feed unit), it is
natural, that the stable feeding of the dairy stock cannot be ar-
ranged self-dependently so as to meet the modern requirements
of milk production, unless leguminous plants are grown to a
considerable degree.
The leguminous plants (clover, lucerne, pea, etc.) are the
protein-richest of all plants. For instance, when timothy contains
at the time of shooting ears the said 95—100 g. digestible protein
per feed unit, red-clover, cut at the same time, contains 160—
170 g. digestible protein per feed unit. Moreover, in comparison
with the other plants the legumes have the great advantage that,
though they are the richest plants in nitrogen, they do not need
any nitrogen fertilisation. The so-called root nodule bacteria form
nodules in the roots of legumes and fix eagerly the gaseous
nitrogen from the atmosphere, forming according to our in-
vestigations amino acids, in the first place aspartic acid, of
which the legumes make excellent use for their nitrogen nutri-
tion. The mysterious process of nitrogen fixation, whose chemical
niechanism has been examined in our institute during the last
years, is so vigorous that in one summer best clover fields may
fix 400—500 kg. nitrogen per ha, which amount in the form of
nitrate nitrogen corresponds to about 5000 Finn. marks. It must
be remembered that part of the amino acids is excreted from
the root nodules to the soil enriching it with nitrogen and organic
carbon compounds. The legume thus improve the fertility of the
soil and make possible the cultivation of non-legumes in associa-
tion with the legumes without nitrogen fertilisation (e. g. clover-
timothy fields). As, furthermore, the roots of clover and lucerne
Penetrate deep into the soil and the plants therefore obtain great
resistence to dryness and a powerful ability to develop after-
jnath, which makes possible frequent cuttings, the legumes must
be regarded as the forage plants on which cattle feeding must be
based.
The self-dependent milk-production, which from 1929 has
U; Nord. 1939. 1. 6