Brix was not a good indicator of pasture quality
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2025.87.3733Abstract
Measuring pasture quality by drying, grinding and laboratory analysis is expensive and time consuming. Some commentators have suggested using Brix (a measurement of soluble sugars used in wine and fruit industries) to estimate the feed value of fresh forages. However, there is little data on how useful Brix measurements are in determining pasture quality. This study compared Brix measurements to standard laboratory measurements of pasture quality for five pasture treatments: ryegrass/clover and a multi-species mixture, each harvested to 8 and 20 cm, and plantain/clover harvested to 20 cm, across three sampling dates between October 2021 and January 2022. Plant species and their physiological state varied across pasture treatment and date and resulted in variation in Brix and laboratory measures of quality. Metabolisable energy
(ME) declined but Brix values increased between October and January as pasture changed from a vegetative to a reproductive state with seedheads. There was a positive relationship between Brix and dry matter percentage (Brix = 1.49 + 0.40 × DM%, R2 = 72.1%). There was no consistent relationship between Brix and ME, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre and water-soluble carbohydrate contents. This severely
limited the use of Brix in determining pasture quality.
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