Chemical composition and enzymatic in vitro digestibility of cowpea cultivars and buffalo grass hay grown in Limpopo province of South Africa

The aim of this study was to determine chemical composition and in vitro enzymatic digestibility of four cowpea cultivars and buffalo grass hay. The four cowpea cultivars used were Pan 311, Red caloona, Black eye, Agripes and buffalo grass. Cowpea cultivars had higher (P<0.05) crude protein (CP) contents than buffalo grass hay. Buffalo grass hay had higher (P<0.05) NDF values than cowpea cultivars which had similar (P>0.05) NDF contents. Analysis of variance indicated that cowpea cultivars had higher in vitro DM, OM and protein digestibilities than buffalo grass hay. In vitro cowpea DM, OM and protein digestibilities ranged from 0.64 to 0.75. Chemical contents of the cowpea cultivars and buffalo grass had poor capacity to predict forage in vitro digestibility. These results indicated that all cowpea cultivars have high in vitro digestibility and hence the legumes should be able to supply enough nutrients, particularly proteins, when given as supplements.