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The use of in vitro gas production to evaluate rumen fermentation of leaves of 24 browse species indigenous to semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

L. R. Ndlovu  and
L. Hove
L. R. Ndlovu
Affiliation:
Makoholi Experiment Station, Department of Research and Specialist Services, Private Bag 9182, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
L. Hove
Affiliation:
Makoholi Experiment Station, Department of Research and Specialist Services, Private Bag 9182, Masvingo, Zimbabwe
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Extract

Browse species are important food resources in semi-arid areas, especially during the dry season when the nutritive value of grass is at its lowest. However, browse plants often contain secondary plant compounds which limit their nutritive value. Proanthocyanidins (PAs) (also called condensed tannins) and related flavonoids are a common constituent of woody plants in tropical regions (Mangan, 1988). PAs cause a bitter and astringent taste which lowers food palatability and they also lower the digestibility of proteins and carbohydrates (Jackson et al., 1996). PAs also interfere with current chemical methods that are used for estimating nutritive value of foods (Reed, 1995). Biological assays, especially , in vitro techniques, have a potential to reflect better the nutritive value of foods that contain PAs. The in vitro gas production technique has been found to reliably predict the nutritive value of temperate forages (Makkar et al., 1996). There has been limited research on its efficacy with tropical forages. The experiment reported here was conducted to test the hypothesis that gas production of tropical browse species reflects their content of fibre, protein and/or PAs.

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BSAP Occasional Publication , Volume 22: In vitro techniques for measuring nutrient supply to ruminants , 1998 , pp. 238 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998

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