Castro, MarinaFernández-Núñez, Esther2019-02-182019-02-182018Castro, Marina; Fernández-Núñez, E. (2018). Feeding value of different plant functional types of oak mediterranean ecossystems. In 4th European Agroforestry Conference Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use. Nijmegen, Holandahttp://hdl.handle.net/10198/18910Trees and shrubs are useful sources of cheap feed for ruminant animals, especially during dry or cool seasons when conventional forages are scarce and of low quality. Further, conventional livestock farmers experience risks in feed provision due to climate change, while tree fodders and shrubs can increase the system´s resilience to weather variability and extreme events. However, amongst ligneous species there is a great variability on, their feeding value since the proportion between contents (protein, sugars, starch) and cell walls (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin), the production of secondary metabolites (phenols, tannins) and other defence mechanisms (thorns) against herbivory depends on the ecological strategy of the plant which influences their chemical composition.engOak mediterranean ecossystemsconference poster