Nutritive and anti-nutritive contents of some selected browse plants in the Derived Savanna zone of Nigeria

Abstract

The nutritive values of some selected browse plant leaves were investigated in a completely randomized design. They browse plant were Blighia sapida, Cajanus cajan, Parkia biglobosa, Ficus thonningii, Piliostigma thonningii, and Gliricidia sepium. The plants were collected from Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, Nigeria and were analyzed for Proximate, Minerals and anti-nutritive components. Results showed significant differences (P<0.05). Higher Crude protein (%CP) was recorded for all selected browse plant samples which ranged from 12.45 to 17.06 %. A range of 1.90 to 2.39%, 17.09 to 30.88% and 8.15 to 15.95% respectively were recorded for Ether extract (%EE), Crude fiber (%CF) and Ash values for the selected browse plants.  Ficus thonningii had the highest value of K (1.14%), Ca (0.53%), P (0.43%), Mg (0.47%), Fe (183.30mg/kg) and Zn (71.30mg/kg) while the least value were recorded for Gliricidia sepium compared to others. The values reported for anti-nutritive factors ranged from 0.67 to 1.42% for Phytate, 0.40 to 0.85% for Oxalate and 3.17 to 7.66mg/g for Trypsin inhibitor. The results showed that the browse species investigated had good nutrients contents, low and safe levels of anti-nutritional factors and may therefore serve as a good feed resource for modern intensive ruminant animal production.