D

Decreaser Species

Decreaser species are well liked by livestock and are the first forage species in excellent condition rangeland to decrease in abundance if grazing is too heavy.

Determinate

Plant structures that have a determinate, limited growth period and do not continue growth indefinitely. They grow for a limited time until they reach a certain size or level of maturity and then stop growing, such as the growth form where the terminal growing point develops a flower and terminates the vegetative growth of the shoot, e.g. red clover has determinate shoots.

Digestibility

Refers to the proportion of the forage digested by the animal. The digestibility is generally expressed as a percentage. Digestibility may be expressed as digestible dry matter (DDM), which is the forage dry weight minus the feces dry weight. In vitro digestibilities are determined in a laboratory using rumen microflora in a test tube.

Diploid

A plant with two sets of chromosomes in its cells.

Dominance

This is where terminal buds of a plant or shoot inhibit the development of lateral buds.

Dry Matter

Feeds are heated in an oven to eliminate the moisture in a sample to determine the moisture-free weight of the sample. This process enables samples to be compared more accurately on an equal 100 per cent moisture-free basis.

dS/m

DeciSiemens per meter is a measure of electrical conductivity of a solution and is used to determine the salinity of soil.