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Nutritive value of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) as a feed for ruminants: in sacco degradability and in vitro gas production

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Abstract

Replacement of conventional feedstuffs with inexpensive and non-conventional ingredients such as quinoa may improve animal performance and the quality of their products. Quinoa supplementation is believed to have a good nutritive value as a ruminant feed, but evidence is scarce. The present experiment aimed to evaluate the nutritive value of whole, dried quinoa plant (Chenopodium quinoa) as a feed for ruminants. In the first experiment, the in sacco technique was used to evaluate nutrient disappearance and fermentation kinetics of quinoa. In the second experiment, the in vitro gas production technique was used to evaluate diets with substitution of clover hay with quinoa at 0 (Q0), 15 (Q15), 30 (Q30), and 45% (Q45) of the diets. Proximate analysis showed that quinoa contained about 18.6% crude protein (CP) with oleic acid, arachic acid, linoleic acid, and palmitic acid as the major fatty acids. The in sacco degradability showed that the “a” fraction of dry matter (DM) was low, while the fraction “b” was high for DM and CP. Replacing clover hay with quinoa did not affect gas or methane production; however, Q30 treatment quadratically increased (P < 0.05) its production. It is concluded that quinoa can be used as a feed for ruminants and can replace clover hay up to 45% in the diet.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dairy Sciences, National Research Centre, 33 Buhouth St, Dokki, 12311, Giza, Egypt

    Hossam Mahrous Ebeid & Ahmed Eid Kholif

  2. Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 11241, Egypt

    Nasr El-Bordeny

  3. Department for Nutrition, Research Institute for Animal Production in Nitra, National Agricultural and Food Centre, Hlohovecka 2, 951 41, Luzianky, Slovak Republic

    Maria Chrenkova & Zuzana Mlynekova

  4. Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 3, 1870, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Hanne Helene Hansen

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  1. Hossam Mahrous Ebeid
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  2. Ahmed Eid Kholif
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  3. Nasr El-Bordeny
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  4. Maria Chrenkova
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Contributions

HE, MC, ZM, and HH contributed to the study conception and design. NE and HE prepared materials and collected data. AK prepared the first draft of the manuscript. AK and HH revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ahmed Eid Kholif.

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Animal care and experimental procedures followed the established approved standards of the Research Institute for Animal Production, Nitra, National Agricultural and Food Centre, in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Agricultural Research and Teaching (Federation of Animal Science Societies; Champaign, IL, USA).

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Ebeid, H.M., Kholif, A.E., El-Bordeny, N. et al. Nutritive value of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) as a feed for ruminants: in sacco degradability and in vitro gas production. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 35241–35252 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18698-x

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