Evaluation of in vitro dry matter digestibility of selected indigenous tree browses as feed for ruminant livestock in central equatoria state of the republic of south
International Journal of Development Research
Evaluation of in vitro dry matter digestibility of selected indigenous tree browses as feed for ruminant livestock in central equatoria state of the republic of south
Received 25th January, 2017; Received in revised form 29th February, 2017; Accepted 24th March, 2017; Published online 30th April, 2017
Copyright©2017, Mangara et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Browse tree leaves from Acacia nilotica, Balanites aegyptiaca, Combretum adenogonium, Sclerocrya birrea and Ziziphus spina-christi were evaluated for in vitro gas production andpotential degradability. Browse species were selected from a field survey. All the parameters studied varied significantly (P < 0.05). Means for in vitro gas production incubation time intervals ranged from 30.6 to 45 ml/kg DM for 3 and 96 hrs, respectively. Balanites aegyptiaca, C. adenogonium and Z. spina-christi at 48hr had high gas production potential compared to A. nilotica and S. birrea. In vitro OM degradability is significantly (P < 0.05) different between the browse species. In the study, C. adenogonium and Z. spina-christi had the highest (P < 0.05) degradability while, A. nilotica and S. birrea had (P < 0.05) lower degradability values. Browse species ranked in order of degradability: Z. spina-christi>C. adenogonium> B. aegyptiaca > S. birrea > A. nilotica. The estimated metabolizable energy (EME) values were relatively similar but B. aegyptiaca, C. adenogonium and Z. spina-christi had higher (P < 0.05) values compared to A. nilotica and S. birrea. Browse ranked on the basis of estimated metabolization energy (EME): C. adenogonium > Z. spina-christi> B. aegyptiaca > A. nilotica > S. birrea. These browse species have the potential to supplement ruminants feeding on low quality forages with highly degradable feed resources that could provide microbial degradable protein. Further studies are required to evaluate browse species on intake and growth performance in ruminant livestock.
