Evaluation of the Nutritive Value of Selected Browse Plant Species in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria for Feeding to Ruminant Animals
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Date
2015
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Abstract
One of the major problems of ruminant production in the tropics is the scarcity of quality forage all
the year round. Gliricidia sepium which remains green even during drought has been extensively
used for forage during forage scarcity. However, there is need to screen more browse species to
broaden the feed base to improve ruminant animal production. Ten common but less utilized
browse plants (Ficus polita, Ficus cogensis, Daniella oleiveri, Prosopis africana, Parkia biglobosa,
Gliricidia sepium, Ecliptaalba, Albizia odoratissima, Polyalthia longifolia and Moringaoleifera) were evaluated for their nutrient composition. Results showed that crude protein content was highest
(29.60%) in Moringa oleifera and lowest (15.84%) in Daniella oleiveri. Crude fibre compositions
ranged between 13.87% - 29.33% in Albizia odoratissima and Parkia biglobosa respectively. A
range of 3.25% - 6.30% and 6.68%-9.45% values were recorded for EE and ash respectively for
the ten browse plants. The values reported for mineral content showed that M. oleifera had the
lowest value of Ca (0.68%), P (0.15%) and Mg (0.25%). Eclipta alba was observed to be richest in
mineral elements amongst the browse species with the highest concentrations of Ca, Mg, P, K, Zn,
Fe, Cu and S. The fibre contents of the forages showed a range of 42.41 to 61.31, 29.51 to 49.58,
5.71 to 9.27, and 10.98 to12.90 for NDF, ADF, ADL and hemicelluloses respectively. The nonfibrous
carbohydrate (NFC) contents of the browse species were observed to vary widely ranging
from 6.59 (Pakia biglobosa) to 22.16% (Gliricidia sepium). The values reported for anti-nutritive
factors (tannin, saponin, phytate and oxalate) were low in all species. The results of this study
showed that the browse species in general contained high levels of nutrients and hence have
potential as good feedstuffs for ruminant animal feeding.