Evaluation of the Nutritive Value of Selected Browse Plant Species in the Southern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria for Feeding to Ruminant Animals

Abstract

One of the major problems of ruminant production in the tropics is the scarcity of quality forage all the year round. Gliricidia sepium which remains green even during drought has been extensively used for forage during forage scarcity. However, there is need to screen more browse species to broaden the feed base to improve ruminant animal production. Ten common but less utilized browse plants (Ficus polita, Ficus cogensis, Daniella oleiveri, Prosopis africana, Parkia biglobosa, Gliricidia sepium, Ecliptaalba, Albizia odoratissima, Polyalthia longifolia and Moringaoleifera) were evaluated for their nutrient composition. Results showed that crude protein content was highest (29.60%) in Moringa oleifera and lowest (15.84%) in Daniella oleiveri. Crude fibre compositions ranged between 13.87% - 29.33% in Albizia odoratissima and Parkia biglobosa respectively. A range of 3.25% - 6.30% and 6.68%-9.45% values were recorded for EE and ash respectively for the ten browse plants. The values reported for mineral content showed that M. oleifera had the lowest value of Ca (0.68%), P (0.15%) and Mg (0.25%). Eclipta alba was observed to be richest in mineral elements amongst the browse species with the highest concentrations of Ca, Mg, P, K, Zn, Fe, Cu and S. The fibre contents of the forages showed a range of 42.41 to 61.31, 29.51 to 49.58, 5.71 to 9.27, and 10.98 to12.90 for NDF, ADF, ADL and hemicelluloses respectively. The non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC) contents of the browse species were observed to vary widely ranging from 6.59 (Pakia biglobosa) to 22.16% (Gliricidia sepium). The values reported for anti-nutritive factors (tannin, saponin, phytate and oxalate) were low in all species. The results of this study showed that the browse species in general contained high levels of nutrients and hence have potential as good feedstuffs for ruminant animal feeding.