Chemical Composition and in vitro Dry Matter Digestibility of Leaves of Julbernardia globiflora

An in vitro dry matter digestibility study of leaves of Julbernardia globiflora at four different post-sprouting stages was conducted to determine usefulness as dry season feed for ruminants. Dried leaf material were used as substrates. The leaves from the early stage of leaf sprouting had significantly higher levels of crude protein (22.57%), IVDMD (61.04%) and total tannins (6.21) but lower in terms of crude fibre (16.90%), NDF (32.83%), ADF (12.01%), lignin (8.4%), hemicelluloses (14.01%) and cellulose (10.42%) (p<0.05). Leaves from the dry stage were lowest in terms of crude protein (10.29%), IVDMD (38.11%) and total tannins (1.37%) but the highest in terms of NDF (59.83%), ADF (24.72%), lignin (24.32%) and hemicelluloses (17.26%). There was a general decrease in crude protein with increase in maturation of the leaves. There was also a general decrease in total tannins with maturation of the leaves. The amount of tannins in early stage of leaf sprouting (6.21%) differed significantly to the amount in the late stage (4.14%) and in dry leaves (1.37%) but was similar to the amount in the medium stage (p<0.05). This study suggests that the leaves of Julbernardia globiflora have high feeding value for ruminants in the dry season. However, use of the leaves in the early stages of leaf sprouting could be limited by high tannin levels.