A. Larbi et al., STUDIES ON MULTIPURPOSE FODDER TREES AND SHRUBS IN WEST-AFRICA - VARIATION IN DETERMINANTS OF FORAGE QUALITY IN ALBIZIA AND PARASERIANTHES SPECIES, Agroforestry systems, 33(1), 1996, pp. 29-39
We investigated variation in forage production, in sacco dry matter (D
M) and nitrogen (N) degradations, and in vitro gas production characte
ristics of four Albizia (A. lebbeck N 864, A. procera N 865, A. saman
N 825) and Paraserianthes falcataria (N 783) provenances obtained from
The Nitrogen Fixing Tree Association. After one year of establishment
forage production was assessed by harvesting trees at 0.5 m above gro
und in the main wet (April-August) minor-wet (September-November) and
dry (December-March) seasons at Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. Forage s
amples from the main-wet and dry seasons were incubated for 6, 12, 48,
72 and 96 h in rumen-fistulated cattle to estimate in sacco DM and N
degradation characteristics. In vitro gas production was estimated ove
r 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h of incubation. Forage production of A.
procera was significantly higher than the other species in all season
s. Cell-wall components were comparatively higher in A. procera than t
he other species. Potential DM and N degradations of A. lebbeck and A.
saman were significantly higher than P. falcataria and A. procera. Th
e results suggest that A. lebbeck and A. saman provenances used in thi
s study have relatively higher feed value than A. procera and P. falca
taria.