The objective of the present study was to evaluate the digestibility of Albizia harveyi (AH), Delonix elata (DE) and Grewia similis (GS) dried leaves and the effect of feeding the leaf meals on the performance of goats fed low quality hay. The four treatments consisted of the three browse species combined with Cenchrus ciliaris (CC) hay and a control with concentrate + CC hay or pure CC hay. Data from twelve bucks in the digestibility experiment and twelve does with single kids in the production experiment were analyzed. All the browse species had high crude protein contents (17-20.4%) and low content of neutral detergent fibre (31.3-60.7%) and acid detergent fibre (17.9-34.7%). AH had the highest fibre content of the browses but lower than that of grass hay. Results indicate that irrespective of the higher concentration of phenolic compounds, DE leaves were better digested than leaves from AH and GS. Supplementation of low quality hay with GS leaves and concentrate increased total DM and nutrient intake but reduced DM intake of the basal diet. Does fed with GS leaves had significantly higher milk yield and kid weight gains. The poor performance of the DE supplemented goats could be associated with the presence of the relatively high levels of total soluble and soluble condensed tannins in the leaves, whereas in the case of AH, leaf dust and hair could have lowered leaf intake.
Journal articles from the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) African Journal of Range and Forage Science as well as related articles and reports from throughout the southern African region.