Amaranthus grain as a new ingredient in diets for dairy cows: productive, qualitative, and in vitro fermentation traits
Background: In recent decades, grain amaranths have attracted attention due to their valuable combination of nutritional traits, with higher protein and oil content than conventional cereals. Before they can be proposed as an unconventional ingredient in animal feed, many aspects still need to be investigated from field production to nutritive value. The present research aimed to study the agronomic traits, proximate composition, and digestibility/degradability, fatty acid profile, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic content of two grain amaranth species, Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus hypochondriacus (for a total of six accessions), grown in a Mediterranean environment. Results: B…
Silage of Prickly Pears (Opuntia spp.) Juice By-Products
Simple Summary The cactus pear plant is a Cactaceae which originates from the Americas and is highly resistant to arid and hot environments. The plant is used as animal feedstuff in regions characterized by a lack of nutrient resources. In Italy, the fruits are known as prickly pears are usually eaten fresh by humans, and more recently have also started to be transformed into fruit juice. Various by-products (i.e., peel, pulp, and seeds) derived from the extraction of fruit juice are used for livestock feed due to their high amounts of fermentable structural carbohydrates. However, some of these by-products are difficult to conserve due to their high fermentability. The aim of the present s…