Chemical composition of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) : forage for small ruminants

Pitacas, F.I.; Cristóvão, Mário André Monteiro; Reis, C.M.G.; Martins, Catarina; Resende, Mafalda; Espírito Santo, Christophe; Rodrigues, A.M.

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.11/8599

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Authors

Pitacas, F.I.

Cristóvão, Mário André Monteiro

Reis, C.M.G.

Martins, Catarina

Resende, Mafalda

Espírito Santo, Christophe

Rodrigues, A.M.

Abstract(s)

The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) (L.) Walp) is a legume tolerant to water stress. Is one of the crops most proficient of thriving in irregular rainfall and arid conditions in the rainfed regime. This plant is able to capture atmospheric nitrogen and transform into biological nitrogen. The cowpea is common in Portugal in the regions of Beira Baixa and Alentejo. Seeds are often for human consumption, and whole plant material used as straw or fresh pasture for ruminants, particularly important on those regions (dry during summer), for sheep and goat feed at the end of gestation period (autumn). This work aimed to evaluate the chemical composition profile of three different cowpea varieties: cara verde [CG], cara preta [CB] and bago-de-arroz [BA]. Whole plant samples were collected in Beira Baixa Region during October 2021. The results showed significant differences between cowpea cultivar (P<0.05) for dry matter (DM), ash, crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), non fibre carbohydrates (NFC), Total digestible nutrients (TDN), metabolizable energy (ME), metabolizability (qm), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and cellulose. The best source for protein was CB (17.8%CP) and CG (16.2%CP) cowpea variety with higher CP (P<0.05) than BA cultivar (14.8%CP). However, CG cowpea cultivar has higher figures of TDN, ME and qm and lower values of NDF, ADF and ADL. This allows us to consider CG the best forage/pasture for small ruminant supplementation in the autumn.

Keywords

Vigna unguiculata Small ruminant

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.11/8599

Citation

PITACAS, F.I. [et al.] (2022) - Chemical composition of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) : forage for small ruminants. In 73rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science, Porto, 2022 - Book of Abstracts. Wageningen : Academic Publishers. ISSN 1382-6077. N.º 28. P. 543. Póster.