Kinetics of gas production of fodder of Moringa oleifera Lam grown in tropical dry forest areas from Colombia

Abstract

Moringa oleifera is considered as an alternative to improve the availability and quality of forage for feeding ruminants in tropical areas. Nutritional quality and gas production were evaluated analyzing the fodder of cultivars of M. oleifera from different Colombian provenances. Samples of leaves and thin stems were taken during the dry season from three cultivars (Flandes, Armero and Palmira). Bromatological analysis was determined in the laboratory of Animal Nutrition at the National University of Colombia—Palmira; gas production kinetics was determined using the syringes test during 72 h. Values obtained were used to run a Gompertz model building kinetic curves of gas production. To compare the mean test Tukey HSD (P < 0.05) was applied. Results suggest acceptable fiber contents: FDN (35.67, 41.99, 27.45%); FDA (22.28, 24.98, 15.04%); LDA (4.04, 4.95, 2.50%), respectively. The time to inflection point (HIP, hours) was 134 for Flandes, 24.01 for Amero and 19.34 for Palmira; Flandes’ HIP indicates that the test should be longer than 72 h to confirm this value. The volume of gas at inflection point (GIP, ml) was very similar for the three accessions (61.27; 78.80 and 69.98 for Flandes, Amero and Palmira respectively). The highest maximum gas production rate (MRGP, ml/h) found was 10.1 for Armero cultivar. Lower Lag phase (LPh or microbial establishment, h) was 12.12 h in Palmira. Our conclusion is that the bromatological quality of M. oleifera and gas production differs in fodder of different origins, probably caused by differences in management and soil conditions.