Zooming into the genomic vicinity of the major locus for vicine and convicine in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

The versatility of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) seed as valuable protein feed is hampered by its relatively high level of the compounds vicine and convicine (VC), which are antinutritive factors in poultry and further non-ruminant feed. The objective here was to develop the first-ever genetically low-VC winter faba bean. Hence, the low VC allele vc-, that should be the basis of a known, major locus for VC, need verification and molecular identification and be based on appropriately developed DNA-markers; the low VC feature awaited its transfer into the high-performing winter faba bean germplams. Based on bi-parental F2-families and isogenic lines, we thus developed highly useful SNP markers exploiting transcriptomic data. Furthermore, we fine-mapped and, based on synteny to Medicago truncatula and Cicer arietinum, we identified a candidate gene for the VC locus. A novel, genetically low VC winter faba bean population was bred. The path is now well-prepared for further marker-based breeding progress.

Nutritive Profile and Provitamin A Value of Sweet Potatoes Flours (Ipomoea batatas Lam) Consumed in Côte d’Ivoire

Sweet potato is an important food security crop in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Côte d’Ivoire, the roots are widely consumed as supplementary staple food or secondary food. The present study is conducted to highlight the nutritive composition, antinutrients and β-carotene contents of local sweet potatoes consumed in Côte d’Ivoire. The nutritive properties and antinutritive factors of these sweet potatoes were investigated using standard methods. Results confirmed the energetic value (363±1.63-374.08±0.56 kcal/100 g DM) of whole sweet potato flour, mainly due to its high carbohydrate content (86.75±0.40%-90.87±0.12%). Whole flour recorded low contents of moisture (4.50±0.10-6.30±0.15%), lipids (0.63±0.08-1.94±0.95%) and proteins (0.94±0.36-1.91±0.15%). The antinutritive factors ranged from 55.84±0.13 to 70.52±0.07 mg/100 g DM and 52.30±5.81-92.44±11.10 mg/100 g DM for oxalates and phytates, respectively. The mineral contents were: magnesium (49.37±1.09-540.87±0.82 mg/100 g DM), calcium (50.28±1.14-110.53±0.79 mg/100 g DM), phosphorus (25.12±1.04-42.75±0.82 mg/100 g DM), potassium (906.25±0.33-1625±0.61 mg/100 g DM), and iron (5.62±0.84-26.89±0.76 mg/100 g DM). The sweet potato flours highlighted polyphenols and antioxidant activity varying from 92.80±98.20±1.72 to 224.46±0.86 mg GAE /100 g DM, and 31.03±0.52-58.63±0.60%, respectively. While β-carotene levels of flours varied from 0.19±0.08 to 22.71±0.67 µg/g DM for white to orange cultivars. At the whole, the orange fleshed sweet potato cultivars recorded an appreciable amount of minerals (magnesium, iron and calcium), polyphenols and greater antioxidant activity. This indicates that these sweet potato cultivars may present a potential asset for their using as natural antioxidants to prevent chronic diseases and undernourishment caused mineral deficiency. The results also showed that the orange-fleshed varieties may contribute for vitamin A deficiencies alleviation in children of rural areas of Côte d’Ivoire.

Effects of addition of Natuzyme® to broiler diets containing different levels of canola meal

Canola meal (CM) is a suitable protein source in poultry diets, although it contains a number of antinutritive factors including non-starch polysaccharides and phytic acid. These factors can limit inclusion rate of canola meal in poultry diets (Kocher et al., 2000). The negative correlation between NSP levels and nutritive value of the diet has been demonstrated in poultry (Choct and Annison, 1990). In addition to reducing the availability of phosphorus to birds, phytates are also associated with a number of antinutritional effects, largely because they can chelate divalent cations and reduce protein availability (Ravindran et al., 1995). Successful use of enzymes in cereal-based diets has stimulated interest in the application of enzymes to target the vegetable protein components of poultry diets as well. The current study was, therefore, conducted to investigate the effects of a multi-enzyme on performance and serum thyroid hormone concentrations of broilers fed rations in which soybean meal was replaced by CM.

Potential of annual legumes for utilization in animal feeding

Pea and common vetch have been successfully grown for green forage and forage dry matter production, with yields higher than 30 t ha-1 of green forage and 7 t ha-1 of forage dry matter. Pea and faba bean have the greatest potential as feed annual legumes, with more than 5,000 kg ha-1 and harvest indexes of nearly 0.50. When cut in the stages of full flowering and first pods forming, the average crude protein content of forage dry matter in most annual legumes ranges about 200 g kg-1. Although most modern cultivars of pea contain between 250 and 270 g kg-1 of crude proteins of grain dry matter, they are characterized by a rather low content of antinutritive factors. Forage dry matter of annual legumes may be regarded as rich in lysine, with 13.9 g kg-1 in hairy vetch and 12.7 g kg-1 in common vetch. It is notable that Narbonne vetch (Vicia narbonensis L.) is rather rich in lysine, with average values of more than 20 g kg--1, closely followed by grass pea, with average values of nearly 20 g kg--1. Common vetch, Narbonne vetch and pea have higher content of methionine in comparison to other annual legumes such as grass pea and lentil.

Influence of level pea in the diet on performance of piglets

The aim of this study was to analyse the level of feeding pea on piglets performance. In the trial the addition of pea varietas breed GOTIK with the highest content of antinutritive factors and commonly used mixture (fed in group G01) was compared. The tentative mixtures contained following amounts of pea: group G9 – 9 %, group G18 – 18 % and group G27 – 27 %.The average daily gain were: the control group G01: 0.425 ± 0.110, group G9: 0.395 ± 0.121, group G18: 0.358 ± 0.108 and group G27: 0.315 ± 0.113 kg. Out of these numbers ensues that with higher amount of pea GOTIK the average daily gain was decreasing. In the feed conversion there appeared a similar decrease of efficiency too. In the control group G01 the feed conversion was 2.02 ± 0.10, in group G9 2.16 ± 0.22, in group G18 2.34 ± 0.08 and in group G27 2.46 ± 0.18 kg. Also, with the higher content of GOTIK in feeding mixture the food intake was lower. The differences in efficiency were among the pigletsę gender too. Eventhough grunters have in this age category higher growth rate than gilts, their results were worse. Our opinion is, that this efficiency decrease could be caused by high content of antinutritive factors in GOTIK.Resulting values of gain and feeds conversion indicate feasible substitution of soya-bean meal by feeding pea, and thus decrease the dependence of mixed feed mill on these componentęs import in production of feeding mixtures for growing pigs.

The use of different xylanase sources and a protease in wheat-based diets for weaner pigs

There is much current interest in the potential of suitable in-feed enzymes to improve digestibility and productive performance in pigs. However, in order to improve the nutritional value of feed by enzyme supplementation it is important to match enzyme characteristics to both the substrates present and the animal species concerned. The main antinutritive factors in wheat are arabinoxylans and they comprise over 50% of the total NSP's in the whole grain. Since monogastric animals do not possess the endogenous enzymes to break down the cell wall structures of wheat, which consist mainly of arabinoxylans, the addition of xylan degrading enzymes should be considered. Therefore, a growth trial in weaner pigs was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing a pelleted wheat/soya - based diet with two different xylanase sources (Trichoderma spp.), provided at the same activity levels in a premix (xyl#l and xyl#2). A third enzyme treatment incorporated the same level of xyl#l in conjunction with a protease (pro) obtained from Bacillus subtilis.