Abstract
Tropical trees had served a wide range of purpose from supply of timber, fuel wood, pulp and fibre through to fodder, gum, drugs, and dyes. This study considered the fodder yield and leaf quality of three fodder tree species namely: Moringa oleifera, Albizia lebbeck and Gmelina arborea at seedling stage. The experiment was carried out in polythene pot laid out in a completely randomized design with ten replications. Study spanned over a period of twelve weeks. Seedlings were assessed for plant height, number of leaves and stem diameter. Leaf quality parameters assessed were elemental nutrient and proximate composition. Results obtained from the study showed that Moringa oleifera gave the highest mean plant height and mean stem diameter of 30.93cm and 3.52mm respectively while Gmelina arborea recorded the highest mean number of leaves (8.10) over the study period. Leaf quality analysis revealed that Albizia lebbeck leaves were richest in potassium and copper with values of 5.53% and 24.23mg/g respectively. Moringa oleifera was least in potassium content (4.55%). Proximate analysis result indicated that Moringa oleifera had the highest crude protein content of 17.88% while Albizia lebbeck was best in crude fibre content (2.00%). All three tree species recorded no significant difference in dry matter content of 45.08%, 45.00% and 45.63% respectively. These tree species should be encouraged within the farming system of farmer to aid animal production.
Highlights
Nutrition had been documented to be one of the most important factors limiting ruminant production, this is because ruminant animals in the smallholder sector depend on natural pastures and crop residues for the greater part of the year
The seeds of Moringa oleifera, (T1), Albizia lebbeck (T2) and Gmelina aborea (T3) were obtained from the seed section of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN).The seeds were broadcasted into germination boxes and transplanted after two weeks into polythene pots already filled with topsoil
Seedlings of Moringa oleifera, Albizia lebbeck and Gmelina aborea were assessed for plant height, number of leaves and stem diameter
Summary
Data collection on plant height, stem diameter and number of leaves of seedlings began two weeks after transplanting
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