Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:00:06.875Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The nutritive value of fruits (pods with seeds) from four Acacia spp. compared with extracted noug (Guizotia abyssinica) meal as supplements to maize stover for ethiopian highland sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. C. Tanner ,
J. D. Reeds  and
E. Owen
J. C. Tanner
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
J. D. Reeds
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
E. Owen
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Get access

Abstract

Forty Menz rams weighing 20 to 22 kg and aged 13 to 18 months were individually offered 1·0 kg/day chopped maize stover and one of five supplements over a 70-day growth trial followed by a 10-day metabolism trial. The amounts of supplement offered were designed to supply 4·4 g nitrogen per day and with stover, sufficient nutrients to allow growth rates of 50 g/day. The control supplement, 80 g dry matter (DM) per day extracted noug (Guizotia abyssinica) meal, was compared with 194 to 212 g DM per day of fruits (pods (carpels) with seeds) of Acacia tortilis, A. albida, A. nilotica and A. sieberiana. For the control and four Acacia supplements respectively, mean growth rates were 32, 32, 21, 16, 4 (s.e.6) g/day and mean stover intakes 483, 430, 401, 347, 320 (s.e. 74) g DM per day. The low growth rates and intakes with A. sieberiana and to a lesser extent A. nilotica were probably related to their content of phenolic compounds including insoluble proanthocyanidins which may have lowered the digestibility of neutral-detergent fibre and nitrogen. A. tortilis and A. albida would appear to be of comparable nutritive value to noug meal as supplements to maize stover. Unlike noug meal Acacia fruits are widely available in rural areas of Africa. Further research is required to identify other tree species suitable for use as supplements and how to overcome the anti-nutritional factors.

Keywords

food intakegrowth rateprotein digestibilitysheeptannins
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , August 1990 , pp. 127 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livstock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Bate-Smith, E. C. 1973. Tannins of herbaceous leguminosae. Phytochemistry 12: 1809–1812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goering, H. K. and Van Soest, P. J. 1970 Forage fiber analyses (apparatus, reagents, procedures and some applications). Agricultural Handbook, United States Department of Agriculture, No. 379.Google Scholar
Gwynne, M. D. 1969. The nutritive values of Acacia pods in relation to Acacia seed distribution by ungulates. East African Wildlife Journal 7: 176–178.Google Scholar
Mason, V. C. 1969. Some observations on the distribution and origin of nitrogen in sheep faeces. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 73: 99–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller-Harvey, I., McAllan, A. B., Theodorou, M. K. and Beever, D. E. 1988. Phenolics in fibrous crop residues and plants and their effects on the digestion and the utilisation of carbohydrates and proteins in ruminants. In Plant Breeding and the Nutritive Value of Crop Residues (ed. Reed, J. D., Capper, B. S., Neate, P. J. H.) Proceedings of a workshop held at the International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1987, pp. 97–132. International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Mueller-Harvey, I., Reed, J. D. and Hartley, R. D. 1987. Characterisation of phenolic compounds, including flavonoids and tannins, of ten Ethiopian browse species by high performance liquid chromatography. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 39: 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, J. D. 1986. Relationships among soluble phenolics, insoluble proanthocyanidins and fiber in East African browse species. Journal of Range Management 39: 5–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, J. D., Horvath, P. J., Allen, M. S. and Van Soest, P. J. 1985. Gravimetric determination of soluble phenolics including tannins from leaves by precipitation with trivalent ytterbium. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 36: 255–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, J. D., McDowell, R. E., Van Soest, P. J. and Horvath, P. J. 1982. Condensed tannins: a factor limiting the use of cassava forage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 33: 213–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, J. D. and Soller, H. 1987. Phenolics and nitrogen utilization in sheep fed browse. In Herbivore Nutrition Research (ed. Rose, M.), pp. 47–48. Australian Society of Animal Science.Google Scholar
Self, R., Eagles, J., Galletti, G. C., Mueller-Harvey, I., Hartley, R. D., Lea, A. G. H., Magnolato, D., Richli, U., Gujer, R. and Haslam, E. 1986. Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of polyphenols (syn. vegetable tannins). Biomedical and Environmental Mass Spectrometry 13: 449–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slegler, D. S., Butterfield, C. S., Dunn, J. E. and Conn, E. E. 1975. Dihydroacacipetalin — a new cyanogenic glucoside from Acacia sieberiana var. woodii. Phytochemistry 14: 1419–1420.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis System Institute. 1987. SASI STATTM Guide for Personal Computers, Version 6 Edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Terblance, M., Pienaar, J. G., Bigalke, R. and Vahrmeyer, J. 1967. Acacia nilotica (L.) subsp. kraussiana (Bentham) Branan. Journal of the South African Medical Association 38: 57–61.Google Scholar
Topps, J. H. and Oliver, J. 1978. Animal foods in central Africa. Rhodesian Agricultural Journal, Technical Handbook No. 2, pp. 66–67.Google Scholar