Keitirele Patricia Walker
The two species, L. diversifolia and L. leucocephala, were planted on-farm to provide supplementary feed for sheep. The plant material analysed was on the third cycle of harvesting. The objective was to investigate the nutritional value of the leaves and pods, with a view to establishing a long term strategy for on-farm provision of crude protein source. The investigation involved laboratory analysis of CP, NDF, ADF, ADL, IVDMD, OM, ash and condensed tannin. Mineral analysis included Ca, Mg, K, Na and P according to the procedure of AOAC (1996). CP, ADF and NDF were significantly higher in pods than in leaves (p<0.0001) while IVDMD was significantly higher in leaves (p<0.0001). ADL did not differ significantly between the leaves and the pods, being 12.72 and 12.92 g/100 g of dry matter for L. diversifolia and 11.03 and 11.92 g/100 g of dry mater for L. leucocephala suggesting that pods will be equally acceptable to animals. With the exception of Na, both pods and leaves had more than adequate amounts of the minerals Ca, Mg, K and P to meet the requirements for ruminants. With their ease of drying and storing pods have great potential as dry season fodder. Leucaena can be grown in Botswana with leaves providing crude protein during the wet season and pods providing dry season fodder as part of diversifying sources of livestock feed and promoting self-sufficiency
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