EVALUATION OF TREES AND SHRUBS FOR FORAGE AND FUEL WOOD IN NORTHEAST THAILAND

Abstract

SUMMARY Seventeen provenances of 14 predominantly leguminous tree and shrub species were evaluated for forage and fuelwood production over a thirty month period at Khon Kaen, Northeast Thailand. When cut at a 1 m height five times during the experimental period, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Cassia siamea, Gmelina arborea and Leucaena leucocephala gave the highest yields of edible material with accumulated dry matter production of over 2 kg per tree. These same species also gave high yields of woody stem, which has value as firewood in the region. Mortality of the more productive species was low but others, such as Sesbania sesban, S. grandiflora and S. formosa, suffered almost 100% mortality in this monsoonal environment under these management conditions. The leaf of Sesbania sesban was the most digestible of all species with an in vitro dry matter digestibility of 79%. The leaves of all other species except Calliandra calothyrsus had digestibilities greater than 50% with most in the range 60–65%. The crude protein content of the leaf material of the species tested ranged from 13% to 28%. The other species tested were Adenanthera pavonia, Albizia chinensis, A. falcataria, A. lebbek, Pithocellobium dulce, and Samanea saman.