lupin

Lupins had been introduced into German agriculture in 1841 and had rapidly become a popular and useful feed for sheep as well as being used as a green manure plant for increasing soil fertility in poor-quality, sandy soils.

Lupins contain less than 3% starch (Evans, 1994), the main fermentable carbohydrate involved in rumen acidosis when cereal grains are fed to ruminants. For this reason lupins have generally been regarded as a completely safe feed for sheep and cattle, and required no gradual introduction (Rowe, 1995).