A chemical comparison of two naturally occurring pods as potential animal feed resources
International Journal of Development Research
A chemical comparison of two naturally occurring pods as potential animal feed resources
Received 19th May, 2017; Received in revised form 25th June, 2017; Accepted 16th July, 2017; Published online 30th August, 2017
Copyright ©2017, Matekenya Tendai 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.
Virtual disappearance of nutritious grass in the dry season in Zimbabwe is compensated by trees and shrubs which make an essential part of livestock rearing systems in smallholder farming communities. Appetite is shown to naturally occurring tree pods, Acacia sieberiana and Dichrostachys cinerea whose pods and leaves are highly palatable to cattle. The experiment compared and determined the chemical composition of these two species of pods as animal feed. Pods from Dichrostachys cinerea and Acacia sieberiana were randomly selected and collected from Seke communal area in Zimbabwe during the dry season. Proximate chemical analysis was carried on the samples. Results showed that Acacia sieberiana pods had a significantly (P<0.05) higher dry matter (DM), ash, neutral detergent fibre (ADF) and crude protein (CP) than Dichrostachys cinerea. Pods from Dichrostachys cinerea contained more (P<0.05) condensed tannins, total phenolics and nitrogen free extracts than Acacia sieberiana pods. The ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF), phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) content of these pods were the same (P>0.05). In conclusion, considerable variations and similarities in chemical composition were observed in the two species of pods. These chemical variations can be correlated to the nutritive value and intake by cattle.
