Use of bitter vetch ( vicia ervilia) as a feed ingredient for poultry

Abstract

The increasing costs of conventional feedstuffs like corn, soybean meal and fish meal for poultry diets is pushing the need to find less expensive alternatives. Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia) is an ancient grain legume crop that originated in the Mediterranean region, but now can be found in many countries around the world. It has many favourable characteristics, such as having high yields and being resistant to drought and insects. Bitter vetch (BV) is a good source of metabolisable energy (13.57 MJ/ kg), protein (240 g/kg) and minerals especially Fe, Cu, K, P and Cl. It contains small amounts of fat, but is high in non-structural carbohydrates (617.8 g/kg). Its amino acid profile is very close to soybean meal, including being a good source of lysine. Given all of these qualities, BV has good potential as a feed source for poultry. However, raw BV contains anti-nutritional factors such as canavanine, protease inhibitors, tannins and lectins that have been shown to have detrimental performance effects as a feed source for broilers and laying hens. Attempts to process and detoxify these substances through soaking in water, acidic and alkali solutions, boiling and autoclaving have met with limited success. Hence, before bitter vetch can be considered as a viable alternative feed source for poultry, more work is necessary to establish suitable techniques for removing greater amounts of these anti-nutritional compounds. This paper reviews the current body of knowledge on bitter vetch as a potential feed source for poultry.

Germination, seedling growth and ion accumulation of bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia (L.) Willd. ) lines under NaCl stress

“…Fax: 00903524376209. drought and insects and good energy and protein content that make it a potential economically useful source for poultry diets. The crop is easy to cultivate and harvest and can be grown on very shallow, alkaline soils where other grains such as corn and soybean do not grow successfully (Sadeghi et al, 2009).…”

Comparison of Grain Feed Quality of Different Broad Bean Genotypes

“…Jasińska and Kotecki (1998) reported crude protein content in broad bean seed was determined more by genetic factors than by the ecological condition. High-protein grains are low-cost sources for livestock (Sadeghi et al 2009). Tufatelli et al (2012) reported feeding broad bean seeds in a lactation diet for cattle supports performance similar to cattle diet traditional soybean meal.…”

Response of Some Narbon Vetch Varieties to Different Defoliation Intensities Concerning Forage, Seed Yield and Growth Traits Under Rainfed Conditions of the Sulaimani Governorate, Iraq

“…Vetch can be grazed by animals as fresh forage (Haddad, 2006) or can be cut and preserved as hay and silage (Abdullah et al, 2010). Vetches hay can be used as a protein supplement, and their grains serve as energy and protein sources in the rations of ruminants and non-ruminants (Sadeghi et al, 2009). The potential of narbon vetch for grain production as livestock feed is greater than other vetch species, and the grain contains tannin and trypsin inhibitors that is directly affecting its efficiency of feed (Berger et al, 2002;Larbi et al, 2010), in general narbon vetch is cultivated for grain production (Buyukburc and Iptas, 2001).…”