Digestibility, S‐methyl cysteine sulphoxide content and thiocyanate ion content of cabbages for stockfeeding

Abstract

Abstract The dry matter (DM) yields, the digestible organic matter in the dry matter (DOMD) contents and crude protein (CP) contents of the heads of 16 cultivars of cabbage were determined. Cultivars did not differ significantly in DOMD content (mean, 82.9%). DM yield was negatively correlated with DM content ( r = − 0.54) and CP content ( r = − 0.53). The S‐methyl cysteine sulphoxide (SMCO, the haemolytic factor) and thiocyanate ion (SCN − , a goitrogen) contents of mature heads were determined at four different harvest dates and expressed as a percentage of the DM. There were large harvest date differences for SMCO, the extremes being 1.01 and 1.71 on the first and second harvest dates, respectively. The harvest date differences for SCN − were small with an average content of 0.0471. The cultivar range for SMCO was 0.89–1.68 and for SCN − 0.0263–0.0700.