RUMINANT FEEDSTUFF FROM THE COMMERCIAL FOLIAGE OF HYBRID POPLARS GROWN UNDER INTENSIVE CULTURE.

This report characterizes the commerical foliage (primarily leaves and twigs) separated from the whole-tree chips of short-rotation, intensively cultured (SRIC) hybrid poplars for use as a ruminant feed. The commercial foliage was separated from the chips with a foliage separator on a whole-tree harvester and with the vacuum airlift segregation process (VAS). The foliage separator produced a commercial foliage high in wood and bark content which had only marginally acceptable digestibility by ruminants. The commercial foliage produced with the VAS is a potentially good quality forage: high in leaf content, comparable to forage legumes in crude protein content, of high in situ digestibility, and with possible value as a low-cost protein supplement in feed formulations.