Nutritional Composition Analysis of Tsara (Pterocarpus lucens), Pigeon Pea (Cajanes cajan) Leaves, Concentrate Mixture and Natural Pasture Hay at Tselemti District North Western Zone of Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted at Shire-Maitsebri Agricultural Research Center Tselemti District of north western zone of Tigray regional state with the objective of evaluating the nutritional composition of Tsara (pterocarpus lucens), Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) leaves, concentrate mixture and Natural pasture hay. The chemical composition analysis result of the feed samples showed that CP (crude protein) contents of 5.56, 16.5, 20.6 and 21.8% for hay, Tsara, pigeon pea and concentrate mixture respectively. higher NDF ADF and ADL content were observed in hay 78.74, 53.90 and 14.5% respectively than the fiber content in the browse feeds and a relatively lower NDF, ADF and ADL content were observed in the concentrate mixture which were 48.90,14.60 and 7.58% respectively. The contents of Condensed tannin were in the order of Pigeon pea (7.7%) >Tsara (6.8%) > hay (1.96%)>Concentrate mixture (0.8%) on the other hand higher Calcium(Ca) contents were recorded for Tsara (1.81% DM) than Hay, Pigeon pea and Concentrate mixture which were 0.60, 0.86 and 0.62% DM respectively. whereas the Phosphorus (P) content of the feed samples were relatively higher in concentrate mixture, Tsara and Pigeon pea than hay which were 0.17, 0.15, 0.13 and 0.07% DM respectively.  In conclusion based on the chemical analysis result the browse feeds Tsara (Pterocarpus lucens) and Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) can be used as a supplemental feed resources in ruminant feeding to maintain continuous improvement in fertility and growth rate of animals throughout the year. Therefore, further animal response studies must be conducted in relation to feed intake, digestibility, growth rate and the anti nutritional effect of condensed tannin in these supplemental browse feeds.

Keywords: Tsara (Pterocarpus lucens), Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), Concentrate Mixture, Natural Pasture Hay