Chemical composition, digestibility and energy content of leguminous grains and straws grown in a Mediterranean region

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Abstract
Apparent digestibility coefficients of 5 leguminous grains (chick peas, field beans and Cyprus, bitter and common vetch) and their straws were determined in 2 separate experiments with Chios wether sheep. The crude protein (CP) and crude fiber (CFi) content (g/kg DM [dry matter]) of Cyprus vetch, bitter vetch, chick peas, field beans and common vetch were for grains 313, 79; 261, 35; 202, 47; 260, 102; 290, 52; and for straws 81, 349; 72, 308; 41, 410; 98, 272; 70, 351, respectively. Organic matter (OM), gross energy (GE) and CP digestion coefficients (%) and digestible energy (DE) content (MJ/kg DM) were for grains 86, 81, 85, 14.6; 89, 85, 86, 15.1: 84, 79, 79, 15.0; 88, 83, 82, 15.0; 91, 84, 86, 14.6 and 53, 53, 55, 9.1; 60, 57, 44, 9.3; 51, 49, 20, 8.3; 60, 50, 43, 8.9; 57, 56, 35, 9.4 for straws, respectivley. The leguminous grains used are good sources of protein, of high digestibility and of high energy content and their straws are of higher nutritive value than cereal straws. The relatively lower digestion coefficients obtained with chick peas grain, than with the other grains used, might be associated with its lower CP content; the lower values obtained from chick pea straw might be associated with their low CP and high CFi contents.

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