Hf. Mayland et al., VOLATILES FROM FRESH AND AIR-DRIED VEGETATIVE TISSUES OF TALL FESCUE (FESTUCA-ARUNDINACEA SCHREB) - RELATIONSHIP TO CATTLE PREFERENCE, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 45(6), 1997, pp. 2204-2210
Volatiles from fresh and air-dried forage of eight tall fescue cultiva
rs were collected on Tenax-TA adsorbent and then examined by gas chrom
atography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and GC/flame ionization detector c
hromatography (GG/FID). Fifty of 52 compounds emitted from fresh forag
e and 99 of 103 emitted from hay were identified. The same compounds w
ere common to all cultivars, and quantitative differences, within fres
h forage or hay, were not dramatic. Fresh forage yielded 12-32 mu g/L
of volatiles, while dry forage yielded 0.18-0.47 mu g/L. (Z)-S-Hexenyl
acetate made up 82% of total emissions from fresh forage but only 0.2
4% from hay. Green-leaf odor compounds made up 11% in fresh forage and
6% in hay. Previously determined grazing preferences by cattle were r
elated positively to 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one and negatively to (Z)-3-h
exenyl propionate and acetic acid, which together made up <0.2% of vol
atiles from fresh forage.