An evaluation of nutritive value of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes Mart. Solms-Laubach) harvested from different water sources as animal feed

摘要

OneofthemajorproblemsofwaterwaysinNigeriaistherapidinfestationofwaterhyacinthcausingenvironmentalhazard.Waterhyacinth(WH),maybeusefulassustainingfeedsourceforlivestockespeciallyruminants.Theobjectiveofthisstudywastoevaluatethepotentialofwaterhyacinth(WH)forruminantnutrition.Thechemicalcompositionandspottestanalysisforsaponin,tanninandsteroidswasdetermined.InvitrogasproductionofWHcollectedfromdifferentwatersources(DWS)duringdryseasonwascarriedoutundera24hinvitrogasfermentationinordertoestimatetheMetabolizableenergy(ME),Organicmatterdigestibility(OMD)andShortChainFattyAcids(SCFA).Methaneproductionwasestimatedat24hpostincubation.nbsp;Thecrudeprotein,etherextract,andashvariedsignificantly(P0.05)bydifferentsourcesofWH.TheCPvariedfrom10.3to10.4g/100gDM.Thedrymatter,crudefibre,aciddetergentfibreandneutraldetergentfibrewerenotsignificantlyaffectedbydifferentwatersources.QualitativeevaluationofthesecondarymetabolitesshowedthatWHfromalldifferentwatersourcescontainedtanninsandsteroids;saponinwasfoundbutdeclarednegativeduetothequalitativemethodused.PlantsfromallDWSwererichinminerals.Thecumulativegasproducedat24hwas19.3,18.2,16.0and18.0ml/200mgDMforDWS1,2,3and4respectively.TheCH4productiondifferedsignificantly(p0.05)withwatersource2recordingthehighestvalueof5.0mlandthelowestvalue2.7mlwasrecordedforwatersource3.TheME,OMDandSCFAnbsp;alsovariedsignificantly(p0.05)rangingfrom5.0to5.5MJ/KgDM,44.6to50.4%and0.437nbsp;to0.522umolrespectively.Thenutritivecomposition,secondarymetabolitesandinvitrogasproductionparametersshowedapotentiallyhighCPandenergyavailableinwaterhyacinth,suggestingitspossibilityofbeingutilizedforruminantproductioninthetropics.