Forage Yield, Nutritional Value and Phytotrepic Traits of Hops (Humulus lupulus L.)

Medicinal plants increases animal yield and quality; they also play an alternative role in the treatment of animal diseases thanks to their phytotrepic properties. One of these plants is hop (Humulus lupulus L.). A hop contains significant amounts of polyphenols, crude protein, and crude ash, and it’s also easy digestibility. It contributes to animal health, yield, and quality due to these traits. This study, it was aimed to determine the hay yield and quality of hop. The five different age groups (3, 5, 10, 15, and 20) of two varieties of hop (Brewers Gold and Aroma) were used in the study.  The samples were investigated for hay yield, protein yield, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC), condensed tannin (CT) and total alkaloid content (TA). The highest hay yield was determined in the 5 age group (568.57 and 663.38 kg da^-1, respectively) of both varietites and in the 10 age group (568.71 kg da^-1) of Aroma variety. The highest protein yield was determined at 5 and 10 years of age (108.11 and 89.20 kg da^-1, respectively) of Aroma variety. The K, P, Ca and Mg contents were ranged between 1.680-2.477%, 0.327-0.420%, 0.817-1.500% and 0.420-0.720%, respectively. The lowest TA of 2.95% was determined in the 15 age group of Aroma variety. The CT of hop varied between 1.38%-5.42%, the TPC ranged between 11.78-43.41 mg GA g^-1, and the TFC 12.47-13.32 mg QE g^-1. As a result, it has been determined that hop can be considered as an alternative roughage source in terms of the all properties examined. Besides, the hop obtained from 5 ages in Brewers gold variety is better than other treatments.