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Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) pods, shells and offals

Datasheet

Description
Click on the "Nutritional aspects" tab for recommendations for ruminants, pigs, poultry, rabbits, horses, fish and crustaceans
Common names 
Bambara bean, bambara groundnut, congo goober, ground bean, hog-peanut, Congo groundnut, earth pea, njugo bean, Congo earth pea, kaffir pea, Madagascar groundnut, stone groundnut [English]; pois bambara, pois de terre, voandzou [French]; bambarra, guandsú, guisante de tierra, maní de bambarra [Spanish], jinguba de cagambe [Portuguese]; gongongu, gorosgoros, biriji daɓɓi, biriji damuɗi, ngalaa-wu/ji, ngalgalaa-wu/ji [Fulfulde]; Bambara-Erdnuss [German]; Kacang bogor [Indonesian]; mnjugu-mawe [Swahili]; لوبياء مطمورة [Arabic]; バンバラマメ [Japanese]
Synonyms 

Glycine subterranea L., Voandzeia subterranea (L.) Thouars ex DC. (USDA, 2009)

Description 

Bambara groundnut pods, shells and offal are the by-product of processing the seeds into flour for human consumption. The offal is produced after splitting the seeds in an attrition mill to remove the shells, winnowing to remove loosened testa and converting the cotyledons into fine flour by milling several times followed by sieving. In Nigeria, large amounts of offal are being discarded as wastes (Onyimonyi et al., 2007).

Distribution 

Bambara groundnut originates from West Africa (Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Chad) and is cultivated in drier tropical Africa. In Southern Africa, Zimbabwe is the centre of production. It is found in tropical regions of America, Asia and Australia but the present level of cultivation outside Africa is negligible.

Environmental impact 

As a legume plant, Bambara groundnut is a good soil fertilizer and a good rotation crop. It does not require additional fertilizer. It is generally intercropped with cereals (maize, sorghum, and pearl millet), other pulses (cowpea, groundnut), root and tuber crops, or vegetables.

Nutritional aspects
Nutritional attributes 

Because bambara groundnut seeds are good sources of protein and energy for people during the dry season, it has been recommended to use the shells and other by-products to feed animals, leaving the seeds for human consumption.

Ruminants 

Pods

Bambara groundnut pods have been used to feed goats in Zambia during the dry season as they contain adequate levels of carbohydrate and protein (Aregheore, 2001).

Pigs 

Offal

Weaner pigs can tolerate up to 10% of toasted bambara groundnut offal in the diet (Onyimonyi et al., 2007).

Poultry 

Offal

Bambara groundnut offal is a valuable feedstuff for poultry when used at low rates (Amaefule et al., 2005). However it can lower performance even at 10% of the ration (Ani et al., 2012).

The recommended dietary inclusion rates are:

There have been attempts to use mixtures of bambara groundnut offal with cassava root meal as maize replacer in poultry rations. In most experiments, animal performances were lower when maize was replaced, however, feed costs were reduced and bambara groundnut offal could be considered a potential maize replacer. For example, a mixture of bambara groundnut, cassava root meal and yam peel could be used in broilers diet. Bambara groundnut offal could represent 25% of the diet (Anyanwu et al., 2006). In layer hens, mixtures of cassava root meal and bambara groundnut offal in variable proportions (1:2; 1:1; 2:1) were used to completely replace maize. However, all mixtures had depressive effects on layer performance (Anyanwu et al., 2008).

Rabbits 

In Nigeria, raw bambara groundnut waste (16-17% crude protein) is considered as a classical feed ingredient in rabbit feeding, because it is included in the control diet of studies about other potential rabbit feed ingredients (Aribido et al., 2010). The possibility of increasing incorporation levels of raw bambara groundnut waste was studied up to 30%, and no significant alteration of growth performance was observed up to 20% (Ani, 2007).

Similarly, bambara raw groundnut offals were incorporated in complete rabbit diets up to 20% as strict replacement of the corresponding quantity of maize offals. All experimental diets resulted in an improvement of growth performance with a maximum (+58% for the growth rate above the control) for the diet with 15% bambara groundnut offal (Amaefule et al., 2011).

Nutritional tables
Tables of chemical composition and nutritional value 

Avg: average or predicted value; SD: standard deviation; Min: minimum value; Max: maximum value; Nb: number of values (samples) used

Main analysis Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Dry matter % as fed 96.6 1
Crude protein % DM 18.2 1
Crude fibre % DM 14.2 1
Ether extract % DM 5.5 1
Ash % DM 5.4 1
Gross energy MJ/kg DM 19.2 *
 
Ruminant nutritive values Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
OM digestibility, Ruminant % 89.5 *
 
Pig nutritive values Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Energy digestibility, growing pig % 67.8 *
DE growing pig MJ/kg DM 13.0 *

The asterisk * indicates that the average value was obtained by an equation.

References

Oyenuga, 1968

Last updated on 24/10/2012 00:43:14

Main analysis Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Dry matter % as fed 91.8 1
Crude protein % DM 6.7 1
NDF % DM 47.6 1
ADF % DM 29.8 1
Lignin % DM 10.0 1
Ether extract % DM 2.6 1
Ash % DM 3.9 1
Gross energy MJ/kg DM 18.3 1

The asterisk * indicates that the average value was obtained by an equation.

References

Aregheore, 2001

Last updated on 24/10/2012 00:43:14

Main analysis Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Dry matter % as fed 90.3 2.6 87.4 92.0 3
Crude protein % DM 18.2 1.4 17.0 19.8 3
Crude fibre % DM 13.0 7.6 6.4 21.4 3
Ether extract % DM 3.7 1.3 2.2 4.5 3
Ash % DM 3.6 0.5 3.2 4.2 3
Gross energy MJ/kg DM 19.1 *
 
Pig nutritive values Unit Avg SD Min Max Nb
Energy digestibility, growing pig % 69.6 *
DE growing pig MJ/kg DM 13.3 *

The asterisk * indicates that the average value was obtained by an equation.

References

Amaefule et al., 2005; Onyimonyi et al., 2007; Ukpabi et al., 2008

Last updated on 24/10/2012 00:43:14

References
References 
Datasheet citation 

Heuzé V., Tran G., Lebas F., 2016. Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) pods, shells and offals. Feedipedia, a programme by INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO. https://feedipedia.org/node/529 Last updated on July 29, 2016, 10:25

English correction by Tim Smith (Animal Science consultant) and Hélène Thiollet (AFZ)
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