Fodder trees: Identification, leaf biomass yield, nutritional quality and socioeconomic importance in Essera district, Dawuro zone, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

The scarcity of feed in terms of quantity and quality tremendously impacts livestock productivity in Ethiopia. Using fodder trees (FTs) as livestock feed could partially overcome this gap. Thus, the present study aimed to identify species, estimate leaf biomass yield (LBY), evaluate nutritional quality and assess the socioeconomic importance of FTs in the Essera district. The study sites and households (HHs) were selected using a multistage sampling procedure. Data on the socioeconomic importance of FTs were collected from 134 randomly selected HHs. Ten FT species were evaluated for LBY determination, and 15 FTs (including nine FT species) were evaluated for nutritional quality across three agroecologies (AEs). In total, 34 FTs were identified at the species level. The overall mean of LBY of the FTs ranged from 14.32 to 370.94 kg/tree, with the lowest and highest values of 10.85 and 430.27 kg/tree at mid- and low-altitudes, respectively. A significant difference (p < 0.05) in the chemical composition of the selected FTs was observed between AEs. The overall mean of dry matter (DM), ash, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), and acid detergent lignin (ADL) contents of the FTs ranged from 90.03 to 93.55 %, 6.26–16.52 %, 13.05–25.50 %, 33.06–50.42 %, 25.58–34.52 %, and 4.19–8.38 %, respectively. Moreover, the in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of the FTs ranged from 37.80 to 67.89 %. The results indicated that the overall mean tannin, phytate, and oxalate contents were 2.84 ± 0.12 %, 0.60 ± 0.05 %, and 1.66 ± 0.21 %, respectively. Antinutritional factors (ANFs) were significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by FT species. In addition to feed sources, FTs were used for air pollution reduction (52.2 %), income generation (44.0 %), and soil erosion prevention (34.3 %) in the studied areas. In conclusion, due to the high CP content, high digestibility potential, low to moderate fibre and lignin contents, and tolerable levels of ANFs in FTs, the use of FTs as supplementary feed to livestock in the study area is recommended. Further experimental studies should be conducted on the impact of FTs on livestock performance.