No abstract

The faba bean is a legume primarily used in animal feeding as grain and, to a lesser degree, as fodder. As noted, grain, being a good source of amylacea (starch) (45–50% DM) and protein (23–30 CP%DM) of discrete biological value (Verite and Peyraud, 1988), acts as an alternative to soybean which is particularly suitable for organic breeding. Despite this, low productive yields and the presence of thermostable antinutritional factors have reduced the diffusion of this legume especially in feeding non-ruminant species. The objective of the current work was that of investigating the effect of the genotype and conditions (time and place of sowing) on the amount in polyphenols, vicine, convicine and phytates of five varieties of faba bean (Vicia faba var. minor) that have recorded the best protein yields under Umbrian pedoclimatic conditions (Monotti et al., 2004; Mannino, 2003)

Twenty-six Apennine male lambs were allotted into 2 groups, under different finishing systems: group P (maximum pasture allowance) and group S (intensive finishing). Lambs were slaughtered either at 30 kg of weight or at 110 days of age (in case they couldn’t reach final weight because of a sharp decline in pasture productivity in summer). Post-weaning ADG were significantly higher in the S group (about 77 g/d) and P lambs had lower weights, dressing percentage (due to higher gastro-intestinal apparatus content) and SEUROP conformation scores. Finishing lambs at pasture could have better results after an early weaning or using different mating strategies to escape the dramatic fall in pasture dry matter availability during summer