Chemical composition of some fodder tree leaves used for animal feeding in Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh.

摘要

This study was conducted to determine the chemical composition of various fodder tree leaves collected from 4 villages in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Crude protein content was higher in the leaves of Albizia lebbeck (sirin, 21.52%), Robinia pseudoacacia (robinia, 20.67%), Grewia opositifolia [Grewia optiva] (biul, 19.43%), Morus alba (shahtut, 18.87%), A. chinensis (ohi, 17.72%), Pongamia pinnata (karanj, 16.79%), Acacia catechu (khair, 15.92%), Toona ciliata (tuni, 15.55%), Dalbergia sissoo (shisham, 15.26%) and Ficus religiosa (pipal, 15.17%). The phosphorus content in all these tree leaves was extremely low. The neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content varied between 20.1% in Melia azedarach (drake) to 63.72% in Quercus leucotrichophora (ban), whereas acid detergent fibre (ADF) ranged from 14.25% in drake to 50.26% in F. glomerata [Ficus racemosa] (gular). The crude fibre content in these tree leaves ranged from 11.78% in shahtut to 33.21% in ban. The ether extract varied between 1.92% in robinia and 6.12% in shahtut. The total ash content varied between 5.69% in robinia and 15.82% in shahtut. The lignin content ranged between 5.93% in drake to 16.67% in gular. Silica varied from 0.80% in F. lacor (pilkhan) to 4.95% in gular. The tree leaves except Terminalia arjuna (arjun, 5.21%), aslan (5.34%), T. bellirica (bhera, 6.55%) and Eugenia jambolana (jamun, 7.83%) were low in tannin. The time of use of various tree species indicated that more number of fodder trees were fed to the animals during the winter months when no other green fodder was available..