Track 2-04: Animal-Plant Interactions
Description
Psoralea bituminosa C.H. Stirton (syn. Bituminaria bituminosa L.) is a perennial legume usually considered of low palatability because of the strong smell that can be emitted by oil glands located on its foliage. However the nutritive value of P. bituminosa in terms of forage composition and digestibility was proven similar to or even better than that of other legumes. The aerial part of this species may contain a high concentration of furano-coumarins, out of which psoralen and angelicin are the most abundant (Pecetti et al. 2007). These substances could be harmful to animals, being responsible for contact photodermatitis, in addition to possibly limiting forage intake. Nevertheless there are some examples of the utilisation of P. bituminosa either as green or dry forage. In the Canary Islands, it is grazed all year and also is collected from late spring to mid-summer to make hay used to feed goats (Ventura et al. 2009). In Israel P. bituminosa is grazed by cattle in particular in mid-spring, when the principal grasses become less palatable. In late spring, when the herbaceous species dry up, P. bituminosa becomes the only species with green leaves and cattle graze the whole plant intensively (Sternberg et al. 2006).
The potentiality of Psoralea as forage species for dairy sheep is less known. For that reason an experiment was carried out to evaluate the propensity of Sarda dairy sheep towards different accessions of Psoralea spp. using the micro-swards method (Orr et al. 2005).
Included in
Palatability of Psolarea spp. Accessions Offered as Micro-Swards to Dairy Sheep
Psoralea bituminosa C.H. Stirton (syn. Bituminaria bituminosa L.) is a perennial legume usually considered of low palatability because of the strong smell that can be emitted by oil glands located on its foliage. However the nutritive value of P. bituminosa in terms of forage composition and digestibility was proven similar to or even better than that of other legumes. The aerial part of this species may contain a high concentration of furano-coumarins, out of which psoralen and angelicin are the most abundant (Pecetti et al. 2007). These substances could be harmful to animals, being responsible for contact photodermatitis, in addition to possibly limiting forage intake. Nevertheless there are some examples of the utilisation of P. bituminosa either as green or dry forage. In the Canary Islands, it is grazed all year and also is collected from late spring to mid-summer to make hay used to feed goats (Ventura et al. 2009). In Israel P. bituminosa is grazed by cattle in particular in mid-spring, when the principal grasses become less palatable. In late spring, when the herbaceous species dry up, P. bituminosa becomes the only species with green leaves and cattle graze the whole plant intensively (Sternberg et al. 2006).
The potentiality of Psoralea as forage species for dairy sheep is less known. For that reason an experiment was carried out to evaluate the propensity of Sarda dairy sheep towards different accessions of Psoralea spp. using the micro-swards method (Orr et al. 2005).
