Productivity and Nutritional Quality of Nitrogen-Fixing and Non-Fixing Shrub Species for Ruminant Production

Abstract

Fodder shrubs are important dry season feed sources for livestock in semi-arid environments. It has been proposed that a mixture of leguminous with non-leguminous shrubs may increase rates of N cycling and improve biomass and fodder quality. The objective of the present study was to assess the biomass productivity and fodder quality of leguminous shrubs growing a mixture with non-leguminous shrubs. Three shrub species—the legume Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) and the non-legumes Guazuma ulmifolia (Lam.) and Moringa oleifera (Lam.)—were grown as legume/non-legume mixtures and as monocultures. Total fodder production and quality were estimated over five harvests at three-month intervals. The Leucaena–Guazuma mixture had the largest fodder production (9045 kg ha−1 year−1), followed by the Leucaena monocrop (7750 kg ha−1 year−1). Total nitrogen accumulation in the foliage was also high in the Leucaena–Guazuma mixture, reaching 282 kg ha−1 year−1; the Leucaena monocrop accumulated 244 kg N, while the Moringa monocrop took up only 46 kg N ha−1. The concentration of polyphenols was high in Leucaena and Guazuma, while Moringa had the lowest value. The high survival and excellent growth rates, as well as the high foliage production observed in Leucaena and Guazuma, suggest that they have the potential to provide high-quality fodder for livestock.