Nutritional quality of Pithecellobium dulce and Acacia cochliacantha fruits, and its evaluation in goats

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The fruits of leguminous trees are part of the natural diet of goats; however, they should be evaluated to quantify its food and nutritional values. Chemical composition, in vitro gas production (with and without polyethyleneglycol (PEG-4000MW)), in vitro digestibility of dry matter (IVDMD) and organic matter (IVOMD) of fruits from Pithecellobium dulce and Acacia cochliacantha were determined. The content of acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total phenols (TP) and condensed tannins (CT) was correlated (r) with the in vitro gas production (IVGP), IVDMD, IVOMD and metabolizable energy (ME) of the fruits. In Exp. 1 the preference test was developed during 10 days of adaptation, plus five days of evaluation in 10 six months-old female Creole goats, with 14±2.0kg body weight (BW) that were allocated in a completely randomized design to simultaneously receive P. dulce and A. cochliacantha fruits in individual feeders to determine goats preference to any of the two fruits, and the chemical compound of fruits with dry matter intake (DMI) of goats was correlated, too. In Exp. 2 the productive performance was assessed of 25 six months-old male Creole kids (14±3.0kg BW) that were allocated in a completely randomized design to feed ad libitum with fruits added to experimental diets with 30% and 15% of each fruit: P. dulce (T1 and T2), A. cochliacantha (T3 and T4), and T5=control diet without fruit. The chemical composition, IVDMD, IVGP and IVOMD were different (P<0.001) among fruits; the r was negative (−0.83 to −0.99, P<0.01) among the contents of ADF, NDF, TP and CT with IVGP, IVDMD, IVOMD and ME. Goats preferred the fruit of A. cochliacantha: DMI (11.7g/kgW0.75, P<0.001), selectivity (11.5 frequency of intake, P<0.01) and preference coefficient (1.3, P<0.001). DMI was positive r with the CP content (r=0.90, P<0.001), NDF (r=0.91, P<0.001), ADF (r=0.91, P<0.001) and ash (r=0.75, P<0.05) of the fruits. The productive performance was higher (P<0.01) in fed kids' diets T3 and T4 with DMI 108.3 and 101.3g/kgW0.75, there was a higher daily weight gain of 92.4 and 137.3g, and feed conversions 8.1 and 6.0g, respectively. In conclusion the fruit of A. cochliacantha has higher nutritional value in goats that stimulated the dry matter intake; it increases the weight gain and feed conversion.