Use of legume grains in organic animal feeding. Effect on sheep milk yield and quality

Academic Paper from the year 2011 in the subject Agrarian Studies, , language: English, abstract: In this context fits the current need to substitute in animal feed, soybeans and corn for food alternative, depending not only of their high market price, but also the risks associated with GMOs and the presence of possible contamination mycotoxin. As for corn, an energy source that most commonly found in commercial foods, in Mediterranean environments and animals with high nutritional requirements does not, it is replaced with barley, corn can find it easily in Sicily. As for the replacement of soybean, grain legumes, traditionally cultivated in Sicily, respond well to this need, both for their willingness at the local level, both being GM - free and therefore more nutritionally safe. The objective of this thesis is therefore to provide a contribution to the knowledge of the chemical-nutritional few grains of legumes grown locally to be used as protein sources for feeding of sheep as an alternative to soy milk, and get directions on the legume species in order to pursue, along with good production levels, better diet and organoleptic characteristics, as well as a high security level nutrition of dairy sheep. To this end, we evaluated the effects of the food administration of chickpea, Faba bean or pea seeds, mixed with barley, production and quality of milk obtained from lactating ewes.