Nutritive value of whole plant (stem and leaves) of Hedysarum coronarium L, Medicago truncatula L, Vicia sativa L and Pisum sativum L grown under Mediterranean conditions

摘要

Thepotentialnutritionalvalueoffourspeciesofleguminousforage(HedysarumcoronariumL,MedicagotruncatulaL,ViciasativaL,PisumsativumL)growninTunisiawereharvestedat50%offloweringstageandevaluatedfortheirnutritivevaluebychemicalcompositionandgasproductiontechnique.Thecontentoforganicmatterrangedfrom846.7to946.5nbsp;g/kgdrymatter(DM).Theforagehadhighcrudeprotein(195#8211;216g/kgDM)andvariableneutraldetergentfiber(NDF:397-432nbsp;g/kgDM)contents.Allspeciescontainedsatisfactorylevelsofnbsp;phosphorus,calcium,potassium,sodium,magnesiumandiron.Thegasproductionafter48hincubationrangedfrom45.6to65nbsp;mL/200nbsp;mgDM.Metabolisableenergy(ME)andshortchainfattyacids(SCFA)weredifferentamongthespecies,withthehighestvaluerecordedforHedysarumcoronariumLandViciasativaL.Theresultindicatesthatsuchlegumeshavethepotentialtobeusedtofeedruminants.