View article

Mature seeds of Vicia narbonensis (91 lines), Vicia sativa (23 lines), Vicia ervilia (16 lines) and Vicia palaestina (16 lines) were evaluated for crude protein (CP), protein precipitable tannin (PPT), vanillin-HCl catechin equivalent (CE) and trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA). Other chemical and in vitro characteristics measured included ash, organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), in vitro organic digestibility (IVOMD) and in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility (IVDMD).

Crude protein content ranged from 264.38 ± 6.34 g kg⁻¹ DM in V. ervilia to 341.87 ± 8.55 g kg⁻¹ DM in V. palaestina with all species showing little intraspecies variability. The DM, OM and ash contents of all the lines were similar. However, the ADF and NDF values for V. narbonensis were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those of the other species. Mean IVDMD and IVOMD values of the species also differed significantly (P …