Lindela Rowland Ndlovu

... L. R. NDLOVU and J. G. BUCHANAN-SMITH'z Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario NIG 2W1. Received 18 Oct. 1984, accepted 23 May 1985 ' ...NDLOVU AND BUCHANAN-SMITH ALFALFA ON ROUGHAGE DIGESTION Page 4. ...

... The study was carried out in the Chunga communal domestic ruminants can (Devendra 1978; Merrill & area (17° S, 28° 15'E) in the Binga region in ... mean weight 22-1 + 3-4 kg), ten castrated male goats aged 15-24 months (mean weight 19-2 ±3-6 kg), and 35 young stock (< 1 ...

Four ruminally cannulated wethers (31+/-1.3kg) were used in an experiment with a 4x4 Latin square design to estimate the DM intake, apparent digestibility, nitrogen balance, rumen ammonia and microbial protein production. The sheep had ad libitum access to either Cassia rotundifolia (Cassia), Lablab purpureus (Lablab), Macroptilium atropurpureum (Siratro) or Stylosanthes guianensis (Stylo). Dry matter intake of cassia was lower (P<0.001) than that of lablab, siratro and stylo hays. Organic matter intake was greater (P<0.001) for lablab, siratro and stylo hays than that of cassia. Dry matter digestibility was higher (P<0.05) for lablab hay, than that of cassia, siratro and stylo hays. The organic matter digestibility ranged from 0.579 for cassia hay to 0.617 for stylo hay and there were no differences (P0.05) among the legume hays. Nitrogen intake was highest (P<0.05) in sheep given stylo hay and least in sheep fed cassia hay. Animals given lablab, siratro and stylo hays had higher (P<0.05) faecal and urinary N compared to those on cassia hay. Rumen ammonia N concentration was highest (P<0.05) in sheep given lablab while sheep offered siratro and stylo had intermediate values, and least in animals fed cassia hay. The ammonia levels were above the recommended optimal level of 50mg N/l. The total purine derivative excretion in the urine and microbial N supply was not different (P0.05) among treatments. From the presented findings it is concluded that the intake and digestibility in sheep of the four legume hays are variable and provide adequate rumen ammonia N for maximum rumen microbial growth making then ideal protein supplements to ruminants fed low quality roughages.

... or groundnut hay as supplements in diets of sheep consuming poor quality natural pasture hay 1. Effect on intake and digestibility B. Manyuchi a*, FD Deb Hovell b, LR Ndlovu c, JH Topps c, A. Tigere da Africa ... d Constants in the model: p=a+b(le'"':t) (0rskov and Mc Donald, 1979 ...

The live weights of Matebele does kept in seven communally grazed flocks in southern Zimbabwe were established by survey over a two-year period. The does showed a cyclical change in weight around the breeding cycle, the mean live weight at mating, immediately after kidding and 60 days after kidding were 30.0, 35.2 and 32.8kg, respectively. The month of mating and

The effects of drying temperature on chemical composition and nutritive value of leaves of the shrub legumes Acacia angustissima (Miller) Kuntze, Calliandra calothyrsus Meissn and Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit were determined in two studies in Zimbabwe. In the first study, the effects of shade-, sun- and oven-drying leaves on chemical composition and protein precipitation capacity of tannin extracts were studied. Drying method affected (P<0.01) chemical composition, with cell wall polysaccharides increasing from shade drying to oven drying. Calliandra calothyrsus leaves had the highest total phenolics, tannin phenolics and the lowest N content. About 40% of phenolics in L. leucocephala were non-tannin compared to less than 15% in A. angustissima and C. calothyrsus. Extractable proanthocyanidins and their capacity to precipitate protein were affected (P<0.01) by drying method; extracts from shade-dried leaves were 10% and 20% more reactive than extracts from sun- and oven-dried leaves, respectively. The relative degree of polymerisation of the proanthocyanidins was higher (P<0.01) for oven-dried (1.44) leaves compared to shade-dried (1.01) and sun-dried (1.00) leaves. Drying temperature influences the nutrient–polyphenolic interactions in A. angustissima, C. calothyrsus and L. leucocephala leaves and these interactions have important implications for feed evaluation protocols and for use of these leaves in ruminant feeding systems. The second study considered the effects of feeding sun-dried or fresh leaves of the three shrub legumes as supplements to native pasture hay on nutrient intake and digestion by goats. Feeding the fresh or dry leaves made no difference in terms of dry matter intake and digestion, and N digestion. This offers farmers flexibility in terms of feeding strategies, as they can feed the browse in any form that suits their farm situation. Increasing the level of C. calothyrsus in the diet increased faecal N. Nitrogen retention was lower for animals fed with C. calothyrsus compared to those fed with the other browses.

An experiment was conducted to determine preference intake and relative palatability indices of Acacia karroo, Acacia nilotica, Acacia tortilis, Acacia sieberiana and Acacia rhemniana in sheep and goats using a completely randomized design. The size of Experimental Farm from which the browses were harvested was 1842.75 ha. The leaf samples were randomly collected from various young trees. The samples were analysed for proximate composition, measured for intake and relative palatability indices of sheep and goats. Dry matter (DM) content ranged from 917.4 to 936.8 g/kg DM and organic matter from 822.9 to 892.2 g/kg DM. All acacia species contained crude protein content (CP) of more than 7–17% required for grazing animals. The content of neutral detergent fibre (ADF) and acid detergent fibre ranged from 372.8 to 658.1 and 150.0 to 464.6 g/kg DM, respectively and were significantly (P < 0.05) different among the species. All of the acacia species had low levels (0–5.57 g/kg DM) of condensed tannins. The intakes of all feeds except A. karroo and A. rhemniana were high in both sheep and goats. The leaves from A. sieberiana had the highest palatability indice (Pi) while those of A. rhemniana had the lowest Pi in both sheep and goats. It was concluded that there was an effect of acacia species on intake and relative palatability indices. Species A. sieberiana, A. nilotica and A. tortilis have potential as livestock fodder, based on moderate to high CP value, low ADF, low tannins, high intake and relative palatability indices.