Nutritive value of field pea (Pisum sativum L.) straw as influenced by variety, season, botanical fractions and urea pretreatment

• Published in: Animal feed science and technology Vol. 225; pp. 54 - 61
• Main Authors: Wamatu, Jane, Alkhtib, Ashraf, Abate, Dawit, Kemal, Seid Ahmed, Rischkowsky, Barbara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-03-2017
• Subjects: Field pea; Nutritive value; Straw; Urea pretreatment; Varietal effect; ADF; Varietal effect; Field pea; Urea pretreatment; Nutritive value; DM; ADL; CP; Straw; NDF; IVOMD; ME; OM
• ISSN: 0377-8401; 1873-2216
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2017.01.003

•Varietal variation and urea treatment affected nutritive quality of field pea straw.•Urea treatment enhanced the straw nutritive quality less than varietal variation.•Season and varietal-seasonal interaction did not affect nutritive quality of straw.•A strong association exists between quality of the whole straw and its fractions.•Nutritive value of whole straw was influenced more by variance in stems than leaves.
To evaluate the potential of straw from field pea (Pisum sativum L.) as feed for ruminants in tropical highlands, the effect of variety (n=6), season (main and short), botanical fraction (leaf and stem) and treatment with 4% urea on chemical composition (CP, NDF, ADF, ADL) and in vitro gas production during 24h was studied. The latter was used to estimate in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD). Variety had a significant (P<0.05) effect on CP and ADL of the straw. The differences between the leaf and stem were significant (P<0.001) for all parameters. Season affected the nutritive value of the leaf but not of the stem. The nutritive value of the whole straw was strongly correlated to the nutritive value of the leaf (r=0.87) and stem (r=0.86). The urea treatment increased CP from 99 to 121g/kg DM and ME from 6.02 to 6.39MJ/kg DM. The effect of treatment was thus much lower than the variance among varieties, so that selection for better quality straw without compromising pea yield could be interesting option for smallholder farmers in mixed crop – livestock systems.