Italian Journal of Animal Science 2012; volume 11:e57

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Chemical composition and Introduction Corresponding author: Dr. Arash Azarfar, Faculty yield of three of Agriculture, Lorestan University, PO Box 465, varieties (Vicia spp.) at full The genus Vicia is made up of approximate- Khorramabad, Iran. ly 190 species worldwide. The genus is prima- Tel. +98.430.0112 - Fax: +98.430.0289. E-mail: [email protected] blooming stage rily found in the Mediterranean and Irano- Turanian regions. However, the genus Vicia is Tahereh Rahmati,1 Arash Azarfar,1 Key words: Vicia varieties, Iran, Full blooming, widely distributed in the temperate zone of the Forage yield, Digestibility. Ali Mahdavi,2 Karim Khademi,3 northern hemisphere and in extra-tropical Farshid Fatahnia,4 Hana Shaikhahmadi,1 South America. There are approximately 47 Received for publication: 24 February 2012. Babak Darabighane5 species of vetches in Iran. Most of the vetches Last revision received: 5 July 2012. 1 Accepted for publication: 14 July 2012. Faculty of Agriculture, Lorestan that grow in this region are wild species and University, Khorramabad, Iran are normally grown under rainfed conditions. 2 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and These , such as V. narbonensis (narbon Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License (CC BY- Animal Husbandry, Semnan University, vetch), V. sativa subsp. sativa (common vetch), NC 3.0). Iran and V. villosa subsp. dasycarpa (woolly-pod 3Natural Resources and Animal Science ©Copyright T. Rahmati et al., 2012 vetch) are grown in both humid and semi-dry Licensee PAGEPress, Italy Research Centre, Khorramabad, Iran areas as feeds (Larbi et al., 2010b). 4 Italian Journal of Animal Science 2012; 11:e57 Faculty of Agriculture, Ilam University, Common vetch (Vicia sativa ssp. sativa L.) is a doi:10.4081/ijas.2012.e57 Iran multi-purpose, cool season, annual 5 Department of Animal Science, Karaj grown for livestock feed and to improve soil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, fertility in Mediterranean environments where Iran average annual rainfall ranges from 250 to 350 Materials and methods mm (Larbi et al., 2011a). Woolly-pod vetch (Vicia villosa spp. dasycarpa), a cool season Sites, experimental design and legume, is grown for pasture, hay, silage, and Abstract grain for livestock feed, as well as green management manure and cover crop for weed control and to Three varieties of Vicia spp (Vicia narbonen- Mixing nitrogen-stabilizing leguminous for- improve soil productivity (Larbi et al., 2011b). sis, narbon vetch, accession 2561; Vicia sativa, common vetch, accession 463; Vicia dasycarpa, ages such as Vicia spp. with livestock feeding sys- It tolerates cold better than bitter vetch (V. woolly-pod vetch, accession 2446) were evaluat- tems like farm-pasture or farm-animal systems is ervilia), narbon vetch (V. narbonensis), or one of the best approaches to reserve seasonal ed for their chemical composition and fresh/dry common vetch (V. Sativa) (Larbi et al., 2011b). feeds, to decrease the load on pasture, and to forage yield using a randomised complete block Narbon vetch (Vicia narbonensis L.) is a cool- increase soil fertility. The objective of this study design with three replicates. The experiment was to determine the chemical compositions and season, drought-tolerant, annual legume, with was conducted at the research farm of Natural fresh/dry forage yield of three varieties of Vicia greater potential for grain production as a live- Resources and Animal Science Research spp. (Vicia narbonensis, narbon vetch, accession stock feed in non-tropical dry areas than com- Institute of Lorestan in Khorramabad, Lorestan, 2561; Vicia sativa, common vetch, accession 463; mon vetch (Vicia sativa), bitter vetch (Vicia Iran (33°29’16”N, 48°21’21”E) where the long- Vicia dasycarpa, woolly-pod vetch, accession 2446) ervilia), or woolly-pod vetch (Vicia villosa sub- term average rainfall is 520 mm. Varieties were at full blooming stage. The plants were grown spp. dasycarpa) (Larbi et al., 2010a). Vetches sown on 13 July 2010, at a seeding rate of 230 under the climatic conditions of the province of can either be grazed as fresh forage (Haddad, per row in 1.5¥5 m plots, consisting of 6 Lorestan in Western Iran and were harvested at 2006) or can be cut and preserved as hay or rows, 0.25 m apart and 5 m long. Plots received full blooming stage. Fresh and dry forage yields, as silage (Abdullah et al., 2010). Hay of vetches 30 kg P/ha as triple superphosphate (0.46 P2O5) well as protein yield, were significantly higher can be used as a protein supplement, while at planting, and weeds were hand-controlled. (P<0.05) in narbon vetch (28847, 7366 and 1400 their grains serve as protein and energy Forage fresh and dry yields were estimated for each plot at full blooming stage for each kg per hectare, respectively) than in woolly-pod sources in rations of ruminants and non-rumi- variety when 10% of the plants had podded. To (24825, 4884 and 1050 kg per hectare, respective- nants (Sadeghi et al., 2009). However, there is ly) and common vetch (20727, 6061 and 564 kg per determine fresh yield, a quadrate (250 cm2) little information available on the forage yield hectare, respectively). Woolly-pod vetch had the was randomly laid out in each plot and plants or chemical composition of vetches grown highest content of crude protein (21.5%) and ash were manually clipped at ground level using a under climatic conditions of Iran. Therefore, (12.3%), while common vetch had the highest small scythe. The plants from each plot were content of neutral detergent fibre (43.9%). There the current study aimed to determine forage then weighed separately to determine fresh was no difference in degraded dry matter (DDM) fresh and dry yields and chemical composition yields of each variety (kg/ha). To determine dry between the Vicia varieties in vitro. Results of three species of genus Vicia including Vicia yield, the fresh samples were oven-dried at showed that all the Vicia varieties provide high narbonensis, (narbon vetch, accession 2561), 38˚C for 72 h. quality forage for livestock, and can be recom- Vicia sativa (common vetch, accession 463), mended for cultivation because of their adaptabil- and Vicia dasycarpa (woolly-pod vetch, acces- Chemical analyses ity to the particular conditions of a region. sion 2446) at full blooming stage. Samples of each variety were ground to pass

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a 1 mm screen, and analysed for dry matter protein yield was significantly higher (P<0.05) species grown in the same environment and (DM), ash, and crude protein (CP) according in narbon vetch than in common and woolly- with the same growth stage. -to-stem ratio to the AOAC method (1990). Neutral detergent pod vetch (Table 1). This was mainly due to had a great impact on quality of forage. The fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) higher DM yield of narbon vetch compared to higher this ratio, the higher the quality of for- were determined according to methods common and woolly-pod vetch (Table 1). age in terms of protein content (Mazaheri described by Van Soest et al. (1991). There were significant differences in CP, Laghab, 2008). To determine in vitro DM degradability, in ash and NDF content among the Vicia varieties In our study, narbon vetch had the highest two consecutive runs, three replicates of each (Table 2). Woolly-pod and common vetch had fresh and dry forage yields and protein yield. substrate were fermented in specific 150-mL the highest and the lowest CP content (Table 2; Ayed et al. (2001) also showed that narbon syringes containing 0.2 g DM of each substra- P<0.05). Significant differences were obser - vetch had the highest dry matter yields among te, 22.5 mL of phosphate-bicarbonate buffer ved in ash content of narbon and woolypod the species studied. Narbon vetch adapts to and 7.5 mL of rumen fluid inoculum. The ino- vetch compared to common vetch (12.3 and stresses resulting from dry condition better culum was a mixture of rumen fluid obtained 10.3 vs 8% of DM; P<0.05). NDF content in than the other vetches. Therefore, it has the over 96 h from three non-lactating Taleshi vetches varied from 34.2 to 43.9% and there potential to produce more fresh and dry forage cows. The amount of degraded dry matter were significant differences in NDF content in arid and semi-arid areas compared to the (DDM), after 96 h incubation, was calculated between common vetch and narbon vetch other . In stressed environmental con- as the difference between incubated and resid- (P<0.05; Table 2). Common vetch and narbon ditions, this produced more than 1.8 ual DM. The latter was determined by filtering vetch contained the highest and the lowest ton/ha and 4.5 ton/ha fresh forage. In the contents of the syringes through filter NDF content, respectively (Table 2). No signif- experiments conducted by ICARDA, it was papers (Whatman #54) and drying at 104°C for icant difference was found in ADF and degrad- shown that at pod maturity stage, narbon vetch 4 h. For all chemical analyses, samples were ed DM among the Vicia varieties (Table 2). had the highest dry matter yields, while com- analysed in duplicate and repeated if the error The differences found in the chemical com- mon vetch was more palatable than narbon was higher than 5%. positions of vetches may be attributed to sever- vetch (Abd-El-Moneim and Zhibiaonan, 2002). al factors such as leaf-to-stem ratio, chemical A comparison between varieties showed no Statistical analysis constituents available in seed, adaptability to significant difference in DDM, but narbon Statistical analyses were carried out using cultivation lands and resistance to environ- vetch had a numerically higher DDM compared the MIXED procedure of SAS version 9.2 mental stress. Larbi et al. (2010b) suggested to common vetch and woolly-pod vetch. This (2003). The model used was: that difference in forage quality might be due was due to lower ADF and NDF content in nor- to the seasonal differences among species in bon vetch compared to the other vetches. Our terms of compactness and lignification of cell findings were in agreement with those report- Yijk = µ + Bi + Vj + eijk walls and leaf-to-stem ratio. Forage quality is ed by Buxton and Fales (1991) and Karabulut affected by interaction between species and et al. (2006) who found that ADF has a nega- where, Yijk is the dependent variable under examination, µ is the population mean for the stage of growth. They also reported differences tive correlation to the digestibility of . in terms of forage quality among various Larbi et al. (2010) also found a negative corre- variable, Bj is the random effect of experimen- tal plots (i=3; 1, 2, 3), Vi is the fixed effect of variety (i=3; Vicia narbonensis, Vicia sativa and Vicia dasycarpa) and eijk is the random error associated with the observation ij. P<0.05 was considered significant. Fisher’s Table 1. Protein, fresh and dry yields of three Vicia varieties at full blooming stage. protected least significant difference (LSD) test was used for multiple treatment compar- Variety Fresh, kg/ha Dry, kg/ha Protein, kg/ha isons using the LSMEANS of SAS version 9.2 Common vetch 20727c 6061b 564c (2003) with letter grouping obtained using Woolly-pod vetch 24825b 4884c 1050b SAS pdmix800 macro. The residual analysis Narbon vetch 28847a 7366a 1400a was carried out to test the model assumptions SEM 879.6 300.3 60.8 using the UNIVARIATE procedure of SAS ver. a-cMeans with different letters in the same column are significantly different (P<0.05). Multi-treatment comparison method is 9.2 (2003) with NORMAL and PLOT options. Fisher’s Protected LSD.

Results and discussion Table 2. Chemical composition and degraded dry matter of three Vicia varieties at full blooming stage. Narbon vetch had the highest fresh and dry Variety CP Ash ADF NDF DDM forage yields with averages of 28,847 and 7366 %DM %DM %DM %DM g/kg kg/ha, respectively (Table 1; P<0.05). This can Common vetch 9.3c 8b 35.8 43.9a 487 be partly explained by the fact that narbon Woolly-pod vetch 21.5a 12.3a 32.3 38ab 542 vetch adapts better to cold and dry weather Narbon vetch 19b 10.9a 28.8 34.2b 553 compared to woolly-pod and common vetch. SEM 0.3 0.6 2.0 1.9 15.9 Woolly-pod vetch had the highest CP content a-bMeans with different letters in the same column are significantly different (P<0.05). Multi-treatment comparison method is (Table 2; P<0.05); however, the yield of crude Fisher’s Protected LSD. CP, crude protein; ADF, acid detergent fibre; NDF, neutral detergent fibre; DDM, degraded dry matter in vitro.

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lation between ADF and in vitro organic matter icarda.cigar.org vetch (Vicia sativa ssp. sativa L.). Anim. (OM) digestibility in vetches. In the initial Abdullah, Y., Muwalla, M.M., Qudsieh, R.I., Titi, Feed Sci. Tech. 164:241-251. stages of growth, all parts of the plant are high- H.H., 2010. Effect of bitter vetch (Vicia Larbi, A., Abd El-Moneim, A.M., Nakkul, H., ly digestible. However, during the flowering ervilia) seeds as a replacement protein Jammal, B., Hassan, S., 2011b. Intra- period and stem growth, there is a rapid source of soybean meal on performance species variations in yield and quality decrease in stem digestibility compared to that and carcass characteristics of finishing determinants in Vicia species: 4. Woolly- of due to lignification. The reduced Awassi lambs. Trop. Anim. Health Pro. pod vetch (Vicia villosa ssp. dasycarpa 42:293-300. digestibility of the plant as growth progresses Roth). Anim. Feed Sci. Tech. 164:252-261. AOAC, 1990. Official methods of analysis. 15th can also be attributed to factors such as Larbi, A., Hassan, S., Kattash, G., Abd El-Moneim, ed., Association of Official Analytical increased fibre content in plant tissue, A.M., Jammal, B., Nabil, H., Nakkul, H., Chemists, Arlington, VA, USA. increased lignification, and increased leaf-to- 2010b. Annual feed legume yield and quality stem ratio (Karabulut et al., 2006). Ayed, M.H., González, J., Caballero, R., Alvir, M.R., 2001. Effects of maturity on nutritive in dryland environments in north-west Syria: value of field-cured hays from common 1. Herbage yield and quality. Anim. Feed Sci. vetch and hairy vetch. Anim. Res. 50:31-42. Tech. 160:81-89. Conclusions Buxton, D.R., Fales, S.L., 1991. Digestibility of Mazaheri Laghab, H., 2008. Introduction to forage structural carbohydrates in cool season crops. Bu-Ali University Press, Hamedan, and legume forages. Crop Sci. 31:1338- Iran. Our findings show that different varieties of 1345. Sadeghi, G.H., Mohammadi, L., Ibrahim, S.A., vetch can be cultivated as in different Haddad, S.G., 2006. Bitter vetch grains as a Gruber, K.J., 2009. Use of bitter vetch regions with reasonable fresh and dry forage substitute for soybean meal for growing (Vicia ervilia) as feed ingredient for poul- yields to meet the requirements of livestock. lambs. Livest. Sci. 99:221-225. Narbon vetch was superior in terms of fresh try. World Poultry Sci. 65:51-63. Karabulut, A., Canbolat, O., Kamalak, A., 2006. SAS, 2003. SAS/STAT package. SAS Inst. Inc., and dry forage yields as well as protein yield. Effect of maturity stage on the nutritive However, more comprehensive studies and Cary, NC, USA. value of birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus cornicula- Soya, H., Dogrucu, F., Geren, H., Kir, B., 1999. additional experiments are required to exam- tusl) hays. Lotus Newsletter 36:11-21. The effect of different cutting times on the ine the nutritive values of such varieties at dif- Larbi, A., Abd El-Moneim, A.M., Nakkul, H., hay yield and yield characteristics of com- ferent growing stages and locations. Jammal, B., Hassan, S., 2010a. Intra- mon vetch (Vicia sativa) and hairy vetch species variations in yield and quality determinants in Vicia species: 2. Narbon (Vicia villosa). pp 92-95 in Proc. 3rd Nat. vetch (Vicia narbonensis L.). Anim. Feed Field Crops Congr., Adana, Turkey. References Sci. Tech. 162:20-27. Van Soest, P.J., Robertson, J.B., Lewis, B.A., Larbi, A., Abd El-Moneim, A.M., Nakkul, H., 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral Abd-El-Moneim, A.M., Zhibiaonan, B., 2002. Jammal, B., Hassan, S., 2011a. Intra- detergent fiber and non-starch polysaccha- Two vetches hold promises in drought – species variations in yield and quality ride in relation to animal nutrition. J. prone areas. Available from: http://www. determinants in Vicia species: 3. Common Dairy Sci. 74:3583-3597.

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