Nutritional Value and In sacco Rumen Degradability of Pod and Leaf Meals from Raintree (Samanea saman) in Comparison with a Commercial Dairy Feed

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate nutritive values and in sacco rumen degradability of pod and leaf meals, derived from raintree (Samanea saman), in comparison with a commercial dairy feed for decision making of smallholder dairy farmers for efficient management of local feed resources. Treatments were: raintree pod meal (RPM), raintree leaf meal (RLM), and commercial dairy feed (CDF). The experiment was assigned in a completely randomized design. The results indicated that RPM, RLM, and CDF had the same amount of crude protein (CP) content (P =.17), whereas RLM was the highest in neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents while CDF was the lowest in NDF and ADF (P =.001). Dry matter disappearances at various incubated times were the highest for RPM, followed by CDF, and RLM, respectively (P =.001). The rapidly soluble dry matter fraction (a) was the highest for RPM (P =.023), while the insoluble but fermentable fraction (b) was the highest for CDF (P =.001). The constant degradation rate of b (c) did not differ among treatments (P = .095). The potential degradability (PD) was the highest for CDF, compared with RPM, and RLM, respectively (P =.001). In contrast, the effective degradability (ED) parameters was the highest for RPM, followed by CDF and RLM, respectively (P =.001). Overall, this work demonstrated that RPM is more beneficial than RLM compared with CDF in nutritional values and degradability characteristics. Hence, RPM is recommended as an alternative local feed source for dairy cows raised by smallholder dairy farms in the tropics.