In vitro gas production of legume Bauhinia purpurea, Cassia alata and Macroptilium atropurpureum

Abstract

Legume is feed commodity for livestock which is widely available in tropical country. The availability of tree legumes does not depend on seasons. However, the quality of legumes is varied, requiring information on nutrient composition. This study aimed to evaluate total gas production in several legume types (tree, clump, creep) in vitro. This study was conducted from January 2018 until April 2018 at Nutrition Laboratory, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia. All samples were determined for proximate analysis, Van Soest fiber fractions, i.e. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF), Acid detergent fiber (ADF), Acid detergent lignin (ADL) and total gas production in vitro. There were three tropical legumes tested in this study, i.e. (1) Bauhinia purpurea (BP), (2) Cassia alata (CA), (3) Macroptilium atropurpureum (MA). Randomized Block Design (3 treatments × 3 replicates) was used to analyse data. Data were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and continued with Duncan Test if there was a significant difference. The data showed that Bauhinia purpurea produced the highest total gas production 27.83 mL (P < 0.05) at 24 h of incubation time. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between total gas production of three legumes at 48 h of incubation time (P > 0.05).