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Nutritive evaluation of Prosopis Juliflora fruits and leaves from Kenya: Chemical composition and in vitro gas production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

S. A. Abdulrazak
Affiliation:
Shimane University, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Laboratory of Animal Science, Matsue 690 Japan Egerton University, Department of Animal Science, P. O. Box 536 Njoro Kenya
T. Awano
Affiliation:
Shimane University, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Laboratory of Animal Science, Matsue 690 Japan
T. Ichinohe
Affiliation:
Shimane University, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Laboratory of Animal Science, Matsue 690 Japan
T. Fujihara
Affiliation:
Shimane University, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Laboratory of Animal Science, Matsue 690 Japan
J. Nyangaga
Affiliation:
Egerton University, Department of Animal Science, P. O. Box 536 Njoro Kenya
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Extract

Tree legume forages plays an important role in livestock nutrition in many parts of the tropics. One of the commonly used tree species is leucaena. However, the recent infestation of Leucaena leucocephala by the pest Heteropsylla cubana calls for alternative sources of legume forages. Abdulrazak et al. (1997) for instance, showed that Gliricidia sepium could be an alternative, and indicated the need to identify more promising species. Prosopis Juliflora (prosopis) grows in many parts of the tropics, including the arid and semi arid areas of Kenya. The objective of this study is to evaluate the nutritional value of prosopis fruits (pods with seeds) and leaves as ruminant feed.

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Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

Abdulrazak, S. A., Muinga, R. W., Thorpe, W and Orskov, E.R. 1997. Supplementation with Gliricidia sepium and Leucaena leucocephala on Voluntary food intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation and live weight of crossbred steers offered Zea mays stover. Livestock Production Science 49: 5362 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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