U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2002





- ARS News & Events
- AgResearch Magazine
- Image Gallery
- News
- Search News & Events
- Pesticide Drift May Endanger Pollinators
- ARS Seeks a Fire Ant Fix
- Scientific Discoveries 2024
- ARS Featured Photos
- Down on the Farm
- Facebook Live Events
- Food and Nutrition Research Briefs
- News Archive
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Social Media
- Under the Microscope
- AgResearch magazine
- ARS at Work
- ARS Memorial Lectures
- ARS Science Hall of Fame
- Citrus Disease (Huanglongbing)
- Contact Office of Communications
- Plant Hardiness Zone Map
- Mobile Apps
- Public Affairs Contacts
- Publications and Other Resources
- USDA Blog
- Videos

Archived Page
 This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
 A System to Get Cows FIT By Amy SpillmanApril 18, 2002 Just how good is that grass? Farmers in the future may be able to more accurately answer that question when it comes to feeding their livestock, thanks to a Feed Information Technology (FIT) expert system now being developed by Agricultural Research Service scientists in Madison, Wis. The information provided by the FIT system could help farmers boost their herds' productivity by fine-tuning animal rations. It could also benefit the environment by reducing excess nutrients in animal manure. Many variables affect the nutritional value of forage, including the crop’s maturity at the time of cutting, how it’s preserved and how it’s processed. The FIT expert system combines laboratory data about the chemical composition of forage with information provided by the user, such as the forage’s growing environment and its harvesting, processing and storage conditions. Dairy scientist David Mertens and agricultural engineer Richard Muck, both at ARS’ U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, have developed equations that describe how most of these variables affect a crop’s nutritive value. However, the relationship between a crop’s growing environment and the environment’s effects on plant chemistry and animal absorption of plant nutrients is poorly understood. For years, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. has collected extensive nutritional and yield information on corn silage hybrids grown throughout the world. Under a cooperative research and development agreement with ARS, Pioneer scientist Donald Sapienza is providing ARS scientists with a five-year data set on several corn hybrids that were grown on multiple sites throughout the United States. ARS, in turn, is working with the Department of Soil Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to gather the daily weather and soil conditions for each site. By integrating the information in these two databases, the researchers, led by Mertens, will be able to identify, define and evaluate relationships between a plant’s growing conditions and its nutritive value. They will then incorporate this information into the FIT expert system. ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov