Centro (Centrosema molle) | Feedipedia (original) (raw)

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Description

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Common names

Centro, butterfly pea, spurred butterfly pea [English]; fleur languette, pois bâtard [French]; frijol cuchillo, gallinita, patillo, bejuquillo [Spanish]; jitirana [Portuguese]; 山珠豆 [Chinese]

Taxonomic information

All material of the species known as Centrosema pubescens (except cv. Belalto) should be called Centrosema molle Mart. ex Benth., and all material of the species agronomically hitherto known as Centrosema schiedeanum should be called Centrosema pubescens Benth. (Schultze-Kraft, 2009).

Description

Centro (Centrosema molle Mart. ex Benth.) is a vigorous twining, trailing and climbing perennial legume. It has a deep root-system with tap roots and lateral roots. Leaves are dark green and trifoliate (Ecocrop, 2009). Leaflets are ovate, 4 cm long x 3.5 cm broad. Flowers, borne in axillary racemes, are bright or pale lilac with violet stripes. Pods are linear, slightly twisted, 7.5 cm to 15 cm long and become dark brown when ripe. They contain up to 20 seeds (FAO, 2009).

Centro is a valuable legume forage for pasture, hay and silage. Commercial herbage cultivars have been developed.

Distribution

Centro is native to Central and South America. It is now widespread in the wet tropics from 22°S to 22°N latitude and up to an altitude of 1600 m (Teitzel et al., 1992). It grows best on fertile, humid soils. Optimal annual rainfall ranges from 1500 to 1700 mm but centro is known to tolerate 800 mm and a 3 to 4-month dry season. It withstands waterlogging and flooding and is tolerant to shade (up to 80%). Centro cannot tolerate low temperatures, grows poorly below 15°C and is severely damaged by frost (Teitzel et al., 1992).

Forage management

After four to eight months, centro forms a dense cover 40 to 45 cm high and is able to fix N (ranging from 120 to 270 kg/ha) since it nodulates very soon after seedling. It is then commonly cultivated with grasses (mainly Panicum maximum, Chloris gayana and Pennisetum purpureum), which benefit from N enrichment of the soil and thus have greater yields. Annual yields of green matter are around 5-14 t/ha but 40 t/ha has been recorded (Ecocrop, 2009). Average dry matter yields in mixed pastures are about 3 t/ha (Teitzel et al., 1992).

Environmental impact

Like other N fixing legumes, centro is a soil improver. Its association with grass is beneficial to grass yields making N fertilizer unnecessary (Castillo et al., 2003). Centro is also used as green manure crop in rubber, coconut and oil-palm plantations (Lascano et al., 1990).

Nutritional aspects

Nutritional attributes

Centrosema forage is generally described as fairly good quality forage with high protein content but medium digestibility. Centro is reported to meet mineral requirements. It has also low tannin concentration (Lascano et al., 1990).

Potential constraints

Centro seeds contain total phenols, protein precipitable tannins, L-dopa and phytic acid. Heat treatment results in reduction of these antinutritional factors (Iyayi et al., 2008).

Ruminants

Centro is one of the most palatable legumes (Teitzel et al., 1992) and is considered to be a valuable feedstuff since it provides fresh green matter during the dry season when most grasses are not very palatable. It is nevertheless recommended to wait one year after sowing before grazing it in order to ensure a perennial establishment. Grazing must be carefully managed and heavy grazing avoided. Centro can also make good hay and silage (in association with Guinea grass for example) if cut between flowering and seedling (FAO, 2009).

Pastures made up of grass and centro are more resistant to weeds than other grass and legumes mixtures. They also support cattle for up to 7 to 10 years.

Cattle

Including centro in cattle diets increases the solubility of P and Na (Ajayi et al., 2009). Pastures based on grass mixed with centro alone or with centro in association with other legumes can support good body weight gains in cattle.

Body weight gain in cattle supported by centro

Association	Body weight gain (BWG)	Zone	References
Guinea grass + centro	500-600 kg BWG/ha/year		Lascano et al., 1990
Para grass + centro	550-711 kg BWG/ha/year	Vanuatu	Mullen et al., 1998
Star grass + legume mixture including centro	570 kg BWG/ha/year	Cuba	Mejias et al., 2003
Natural pasture + legume mixture including centro	600 kg BWG/ha/year	Cuba	Castillo et al., 2003
Coconut + grass + centro	250-400 kg BWG/ha/year	Samoa	Reynolds, 1981

Sheep

Sheep in Ghana preferred centro to pueraria. Dry matter intake was higher when centro was mixed with Asystasia gan getica within a three strata association of herbs, cashew and mango (Asiedu et al., 1978). In Zambia, the addition of centro to maize stover improved the nutritive value of sheep diets and it was suggested that maize stover could be better utilized by intercropping with legumes and allowing livestock access after the grain harvest (Undi et al., 2001).

Poultry

Broilers

Fresh centro leaves supplementing a commercial broiler diet had a slight positive effect on body weight gain (Etela et al., 2007).

Centro seeds were used in broiler diets up to a 15% inclusion rate. Heating (1 hour at 100°C) reduced the antinutritional factors in the seeds, improved their nutritive value and the feed intake and growth rate of the broilers (Iyayi et al., 2008).

Laying hens

Centro leaf meal was not recommended for pullet chicks even at a low inclusion rate (2-6%) as it resulted in lower body weight gains (Nworgu et al., 2007).

Nutritional tables

Tables of chemical composition and nutritional value

References

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