Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Mixtures of Legumes with Cereals as a Source of Feed for Animals
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58358
with wheat, while the mixture with barley had the lowest amount of these components [40].
In the case of mixtures of peas with barley, there was also an increase in the content of total
protein and crude fat in seed yield together with increasing share of legumes at sowing, while
the amount of crude fibre decreased (Table 9). The share of pea in the yield had an only
insignificant effect on the contents of P, K and Mg [60].
Pea share
(%)
Total
protein
(g·kg
-1
)
Crude fibre
(g·kg
-1
)
Crude fat
(g·kg
-1
)
Crude ash
(g·kg
-1
)
P
(g·kg
-1
)
K
(g·kg
-1
)
Ca
(g·kg
-1
)
Mg
(g·kg
-1
)
40
183.4
41.0
30.2
25.2
4.4
6.8
0.91
1.3
60
200.6
37.8
31.9
25.6
4.6
8.1
0.92
1.2
80
210.0
35.6
33.7
26.0
4.6
8.6
0.99
1.2
Table 9.
Content of nutrient components and macroelements in mixture seeds of pea-barley depending on share of
pea [own study]
Legume-cereal mixtures can be grown for green matter and used as a raw material for the
production of silage for ruminants or they can be grown for seeds and be used as a component
of concentrated feed for monogastric animals. Due to high yields and digestibility of dry
matter, the phase of milk-dough stage of cereal is the appropriate term to harvest the mixture
for green matter. Silage made from such a mixture may be administered to animals as the only
roughage. The results of experiments have shown that silage from the whole-plant legume-
cereal mixtures allows to achieve large weight gains of bulls, and the nutrients of that feed are
well utilized [63]. It was also found that the energy value of the silage from whole plant of
legume-cereal mixtures is similar to maize silage harvested for green matter at milk-dough
stage of grain maturity [64]. Dairy cows fed of peas mixed with barley, were characterized a
higher milk production compared to the animals fed only with barley. In addition, live weight
of cows increased together with the increase in the share of pea in the silage [65]. Better milk
production results in cows were obtained when they were fed with silage from the mixtures
of pea with barley compared with the mixture of pea with triticale. Higher content of protein
and lower content of neutral digestibility fibre (NDF) clearly indicated a more favorable
cultivation of such mixture [66]. Protein and energy value of silage from legume-cereal
mixtures depends on their composition and the share of individual components. Our study
showed that mixtures of pea and vetch with oats had the highest protein and energy value
compared to the mixture with barley (Table 10). Taking into account the share of components,
it was found that increasing the share of legume seeds at sowing increases digestibility and
improves the protein value of the feed made of the mixtures [49].
The nutritional value of legume-cereal mixtures grown for grains mainly depends on the
composition of the mixture and the share of components. One of the most important criteria
for grain quality evaluation is concenration of crude protein. Analysis of grain quality showed
that crude protein concentration in the total intercrops grain yields was significantly higher
compared with the sole wheat, but was lower than in sole grain legumes (Table 11). The highest
