A Vegetational Survey Of Green Fodder Browsed By Cattle in Umudike South East Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Twenty eight species of plant identified in a quadrant of 40 and 14 plants eaten by cattle were categorized as grass, leguminous and non- leguminous browse plants. Three (3) plant species from each were chemically analyzed. The CP of eguminous browse averaged 19.79 ± 2.05%. The mean CF for the non — leguminous browse and grass were 18.18 ± 2.38 and 8.52 ± 2.38%, respectively. The greatest OP was recorded in Centrosema pubescene ( 21.61%) while the lowest was in Panicum maximum (5.6%). The crude fibre content of the forage varied widely (5.47 ± 38.14%). Grasses had the highest average of 34.01 ± 2.01%, followed by the non— leguminous browse (8.18 ± 0.77%). The average EE content was higher in leguminous browse (8.62%) while the corresponding value for non-leguminous and grass plants were 8.37% and 2.17%, respectively. The average ash content of grass (17.89 ± 16.25) in this study was higher than the non-leguminous (8.82 ± 4.27) and the leguniinous browse (6.76 ±1 .43). The means of saponin, tannin and phytic value for leguminous browse were respectively 1.06 ±0.26; 0.36 ± 0.17; 0.68 ± 0.19 and those of non-leguminous browse averaged 1.01 ± 0.14; 0.09 ± 0.02; 0.49 ± 0.17, respectively. Generally, the digestible crude protein ranged from 1.69% in — Panicum maximum to 16.85% in Cenfrosema pubescene.