Abstract
The chemical composition and water extractable dry matter (DM) of foliages from Erythrina (Erythrina variegata), Fig (Ficus racemosa), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill), Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) and Mango (Mangifera indica) and the feed intake, digestibility and N retention when feeding these foliages were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 12 male goats, 3.5 months old and weighing 14.6 kg, were randomly allocated to a diet consisting of one of the foliages in a change-over design with three periods. The foliages were offered ad libitum at the level of 130% of the average daily feed intake. The Erythrina foliage had a low content of DM and condensed tannins (CT) and a high concentration of crude protein (CP) in leaves plus petioles (193 g/kg DM) and stem, while the Mango foliage had a low CP (69 g/kg DM) and high DM content. The other foliages were intermediate. High content of CT was found in the leaves plus petioles of Jackfruit foliage and in the stem of Fig and Mango foliage. There was a difference in feed intake, nutrient intake, apparent digestibility and N retention between the foliages, with Erythrina, Jackfruit and Kapok foliage being significantly higher in these parameters than Fig, Jujube and Mango foliage. The water extractable DM could be used to estimate N retention, but not DM digestibility in this study. In Experiment 2, 4 male goats weighing 13.4 kg and 6 months old were allocated to a 4x4 Latin square design. The treatments were: water spinach ad libitum and Fig, Jujube or Mango foliage ad libitum +0.5% of BW as water spinach DM. Feed intake, apparent digestibility and N retention were not significantly different among the foliage diets, but higher than for water spinach alone (p<0.05). Supplementation with water spinach to a diet consisting of low quality foliages such as Fig, Jujube and Mango, increased DM and CP intake, apparent digestibility and N retention, compared to feeding these foliages as sole feeds.
Highlights
Foliages from trees and shrubs have traditionally been used as feed for goats in tropical countries due to the content of crude protein (CP) and the availability during the dry season
The stems were generally low in CP and had lower or similar dry matter (DM) as the leaves plus petioles with the exception of the stem of Jujube, which had higher DM content than the leaves
The content of condensed tannins (CT) of leaves plus petioles ranged from 51 g/kg DM in the Erythrina foliage to 130 g/kg DM in the Jackfruit foliage
Summary
Foliages from trees and shrubs have traditionally been used as feed for goats in tropical countries due to the content of crude protein (CP) and the availability during the dry season. Water spinach has a high nutritive value and is available in large amounts in the dry season (Phuc et al, 2001). The foliages were used in their fresh content and/or high activity of the tannins may have form, including leaves, petioles and 30 cm of the stem and detrimental effects on the performance of animals. Were offered hanging, tied to a bamboo stick over the cage goats can consume large amounts of tannin-rich plant and above the feed trough to collect leaves that may be material without exhibiting toxic effects, due to their ability falling down. Harvesting of the foliages was done by to avoid consuming browse in amounts exceeding their cutting trees and shrubs around the experimental unit in the capacity to detoxify tannins (Silanikove et al, 1996)
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