Abstract
Large numbers of species of tree fodder are being used as green roughage source for goats in several farming systems. A study was carried out at Goat Research Station, Bandipur, Nepal in order to compare the feeding value of commonly used tree fodder leaves in mid-hills of Nepal. Altogether five treatments; tree fodder leaves of Ficus semicordata, Shorea robusta, Ficus glaberrima and Ficus lacor and mixed fodder as the conventional practices of the farmers were evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Total of 30 male goats were used for the experiment in five groups, 6 for each treatment. The subsequent experiment was carried out to determine the nutrient digestibility of the tree fodder leaves by using fecal collection method. Nutrient composition, voluntary intake and nutrient digestibility of the fodder leaves and growth performance of goats were monitored. Crude protein (CP), total ash (TA), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), hemicelluloses and cellulose proportion were better for F. glaberrima and F. lacor leaves, whereas the digestibility of those nutrients were better for F. semicordata leaves and moderate for F. glaberrima and S. robusta. Voluntary fodder dry matter intake was highest for F. glaberrima and least for mixed fodders. Growth performance of goats was higher for F. lacor and F. glaberrima than other tree fodder leaves and mixed fodders. The leaves of F. lacor and F. glaberrima had shown better feeding value than the conventional practices of farmers, mixed fodders. The leaves of S. robusta and F. semicordata were observed similar with the mixed fodders for their feeding value.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 5(4): 442-448
Highlights
Feeding of ruminant livestock in developing countries is predominated by tree-fodders
The intake of F. glaberrima (T4) was higher than others, 687.37 g day-1 animal-1. It was discretely inferior for F. lacor (T5), S. robusta (T3), F. semicordata (T2) and mixed fodders (T1)
The concentrate mixture dry matter intake (Feed DMI) of goats was recorded across treatments were similar (p>0.05), the fodder dry matter intake (Fodder DMI) of goats were significantly different across different treatment groups (p
Summary
Feeding of ruminant livestock in developing countries is predominated by tree-fodders. Tree fodder furnish reliable alternative to roughages like Alfalfa for the livestock production systems in many cases (Cheema et al, 2011). Leaves and twigs collected from several species of fodder trees cultivated in a great variety of soil and climatic condition offer green fodder for ruminants during dry winter and early summer months in Nepal. Such supply of fodders in lean season helps to maintain the body condition and a modest level of production of ruminants in many cases (Kamalak et al, 2004; Khanal and Upreti, Article may be cited as: T.P. Paudel et al (2017) Int. J.
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