Performance of Zebu Steers Grazing on Western Tanzania Native Forages Supplemented with Leucaena Leucocephala Leaf Meal

Abstract

Information is lacking on the potential of leguminous fodder trees such as Leucaena leucocephala as a feed resource to supplement the native forages in traditional grazing management systems in the tropics. Two studies were conducted (1) to assess traditional fodder banks' forage nutritive potential on animal production, and (2) to investigate the effect of Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal (LLM) supplementation on growth of steers grazing standing hay basal forages in the dry season. The traditional forages had low nutritive values indicated by low mean crude protein (CP) of 23 g kg À1 dry matter (DM), and high fibre contents of 717, 546 and 153 g kg À1 DM for neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL), respectively. The forages were poorly degraded in sacco and had low metabolisable energy (ME) (4.2-4.6 MJ kg À1 DM). Mean washing losses A, slowly degradable DM fraction, B, potential degradability, (A+B) and mean 48 h DM degradability (DMD) of grazing land forages were 70, 471, 541 and 326 g kg À1 DM, respectively. In the supplementation study, 16 growing steers (160.8±0.24 kg) were randomly allocated into four groups, in a completely randomized design. Four LLM treatment diets (T1, T2, T3 and T4), with four levels: 0, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 kg DM for control, low, medium and high LLM levels, respectively, were randomly allocated to the animals in the four groups for 70 days (d). LLM supplementation ( p<0.05) improved mean weight gain from À0.30 to 0.26 kg steer À1 d À1 , for T1 and T4, respectively. Steers on T4 gained ( p<0.05) more weight compared to the animals in T1 and T2, though there was no ( p>0.05) difference in weight gains between animals on T3 and T4 (0.14 vs. 0.26 kg steer À1 d À1 , respectively). Standing hay basal forages alone could not sustain animal productivity during dry seasons unless corrected for protein. Higher levels of LLM supplementation prevented weight losses and improved the performance of grazing steers, a management practice thought appropriate to low income pastoralists in semiarid western Tanzania.

Nutritional status, growth performance and carcass characteristics of Nguni steers supplemented with Acacia karroo leaf-meal

“…Fibre fraction defines extent and rate of feed digestibility (Rubanza et al, 2005). The observation that rangeland biomass declined from autumn to winter and CP values were low (3-4%) concurs with literature (Tainton, 1999;Devendra and Sevilla, 2002).…”

“…The low intake of Acacia species could be ascribed to the presence of condensed tannins. The condensed tannin concentration observed for A. karroo (74 g/kg DM) was above 60 g/kg DM, which confer bitterness and astringency resulting in low palatability and depression of voluntary feed intake (Makkar, 2003;Rubanza et al, 2005). Similar to findings of the present study, Kaitho et al (1997) and Maasdorp et al (1999), reported that intake of Acacia species improves over-time as the animals adapt to the diet.…”

“…It has been reported that increment in the concentration of protein increases the feed intake, digestibility and consequently, growth rate (Rubanza et al, 2005). The ADG values (270.3 ± 33.09 g/day) of Nguni steers given supplementary diets were higher than those obtained by Thénard et al (2006), du Plessis and Hoffman (2007) and Muchenje et al (2008a) on natural pasture.…”

“…Supplementation with exotic herbaceous and browse legumes such as Acacia angustissima, Calliandra calothyrsus and Leucaena spp. has been evaluated (Maasdorp et al, 1999;Rubanza et al, 2005), but their potential was limited by scarcity and high cost of inputs such as seed, fertilisers and inoculants, and poor establishment (Devendra and Sevilla, 2002). Evaluation of locally available protein supplements grown without use of chemicals is, therefore, essential.…”

A comparative study on mimosine, 3,4-dihydroxy pyridone (3,4-DHP) and 2,3-dihydroxy pyridone (2,3-DHP), purine derivatives (PD) excretion in the urine, thyroid hormone and blood metabolites profiles of Thai swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and Murrah buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

“…Multiple purpose trees, such as leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), have proven to be effective by improving nutrient utilisation, leading to improving nutrient intakes (Majuva-Masafu and Linington 2006), nutrient digestibility and animal performance (Rubanza et al 2005) and lactation (Ghosh et al 2007) and also reduce the use of expensive concentrates (Jetana et al 2011). The farmers who raise buffaloes are not motivated to use this plant.…”