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Cultivation and ensilage of yacon plants ( Smallanthus sonchifolius [Poepp. & Endl.] H. Robinson) and the function of yacon silage
Author(s) -
Koike Akiko,
Murata Tatsuro,
Matsuda Yasushi,
Masuoka Chikako,
Okamoto Chinobu,
Kabata Kiyotaka
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
grassland science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.388
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1744-697X
pISSN - 1744-6961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-697x.2009.00130.x
Subject(s) - yacón , silage , dry matter , horticulture , crop , fermentation , food science , chemistry , botany , agronomy , biology
Abstract Yacon ( Smallanthus sonchifolius [Poepp. & Endl.] H. Robinson) plant cultivation has extended rapidly throughout Japan since 1985 because of its utility as a tuberous root crop. In this study, strains with high yields of both above‐ground and underground parts were identified to investigate the use of above‐ground parts for animal feed silage. In addition, we measured the anti‐oxidative activity of the silage as a functional characteristic. Data from 5 years of the cultivation of 17 yacon strains suggest that the most suitable strain for planting in the Aso region of Japan is SY217, which has a high yield of both above‐ground parts and tuberous roots. The root tuber parts of yacon are used almost entirely as food; actually, most foliage parts are hardly used, except for some above‐ground parts, which are used as tea. The fermentation qualities of the silage using all above‐ground parts and harvest residue tuberous roots (harvest residues) are high and their dry matter digestibility, investigated using pigs, is 66.7%. Fresh above‐ground parts had very strong anti‐oxidative activity as compared with butylated hydroxyanisole and α‐tocopherol. In addition, that activity is retained during ensiling for 4 weeks. These results suggest that the entire yacon plant can be used effectively as a feedstuff resource with the added bonus of anti‐oxidant activity.