Growth and nutritional potential of selected grasses and legumes for ruminants' production

Abstract

The production of legumes and grasses are a sustainable strategy to feed ruminants. These species are rich in nutrients which can improve animal health with less treatment. Therefore, the objective of this work was to assess the performance of the middle and edge plants of five legumes and two grasses for morphological traits, fresh and dry matter yields and nutritional potential as feed for ruminants. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis using R software. The results indicated that very highly significant differences (P<0.001) were observed among the nutritional values, morphological and biomass yield traits except for stem diameter. There was also significant difference(P<0.001) between the edge plants and middle plants. The mean values of the number of leaves and number of stem were higher in the edge plants than in the middle plants for all the seven species. Carbohydrate was the most abundant (42.40), followed by protein (17.81), crude fiber (15.79) and crude fat (7.32). The element analyses of leaf showed N, K, Ca and Mg are suitable for ruminant production in all species. A strong positive correlation was observed among the protein, crude fat and crude fiber compounds. Edge effects were observed showing the highest values when compared to the middle plants. Centrosema pubescens out performed in terms of overall protein, crude fat and crude fiber, while Mucuna pruriens recorded the highest mean value of dry biomass yield. The production of both grasses and legumes, because of their diverse proximate and mineral compositions, constitutes one of the mainstay for sustainable and competitive animal production systems. We recommend ruminant farmers to plant the grasses and legumes at the edges of their farms for sustainable fodder production.