Guizotia abyssinica

Niger seed, inga seed, blackseed

Annual herbaceous plant with softly hairy stems reaching a height of 15 m. Cultivated in India and tropical Africa for the edible oil obtainable from the small black seeds, which are also exported as food for caged birds. The black oilcake is comparable in feeding value to undecorticated groundnut cake and can be included in concentrates for all classes of livestock, which are tolerant of its rather high fibre content. Cattle find it very palatable. Up to 30% oil meal has been used successfully in rations for layers.

					As % of dry matter
				DM	CP	CF	Ash	EE	NFE	Ca	P	Ref
Seed				95.0	24.2	16.8	5.3	40.0	13.7			512
Oil meal, solvent
extracted, Italy				92.2	34.1	22.3	12.0	1.2	30.4			329
Oilcake, mechanic-
ally extracted,
Italy				89.6	36.9	18.0	11.4	7.1	26.6	0.09	0.82	499
							Digestibility (%)
					Animal		CP	CF	EE	NFE	ME	Ref
Oilcake, extracted					Cattle		86.1	30.1	73.3	67.7	2.32	329
Oilcake, expressed					Cattle		82.4	55.2	83.1	58.7	2.69	499