• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.803-811
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• 2009

The chemical composition and water extractable dry matter (DM) of foliages from Erythrina (Erythrina variegata), Fig (Ficus racemosa), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill), Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) and Mango (Mangifera indica) and the feed intake, digestibility and N retention when feeding these foliages were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 12 male goats, 3.5 months old and weighing 14.6 kg, were randomly allocated to a diet consisting of one of the foliages in a change-over design with three periods. The foliages were offered ad libitum at the level of 130% of the average daily feed intake. The Erythrina foliage had a low content of DM and condensed tannins (CT) and a high concentration of crude protein (CP) in leaves plus petioles (193 g/kg DM) and stem, while the Mango foliage had a low CP (69 g/kg DM) and high DM content. The other foliages were intermediate. High content of CT was found in the leaves plus petioles of Jackfruit foliage and in the stem of Fig and Mango foliage. There was a difference in feed intake, nutrient intake, apparent digestibility and N retention between the foliages, with Erythrina, Jackfruit and Kapok foliage being significantly higher in these parameters than Fig, Jujube and Mango foliage. The water extractable DM could be used to estimate N retention, but not DM digestibility in this study. In Experiment 2, 4 male goats weighing 13.4 kg and 6 months old were allocated to a 4${\times}$4 Latin square design. The treatments were: water spinach ad libitum and Fig, Jujube or Mango foliage ad libitum +0.5% of BW as water spinach DM. Feed intake, apparent digestibility and N retention were not significantly different among the foliage diets, but higher than for water spinach alone (p<0.05). Supplementation with water spinach to a diet consisting of low quality foliages such as Fig, Jujube and Mango, increased DM and CP intake, apparent digestibility and N retention, compared to feeding these foliages as sole feeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.524-529
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• 2014

Two methods of feed preference trials were compared to evaluate the acceptability of 5 fresh foliages: Leucaena leucocephala, Moringa oleifera, Portulaca oleracea, Guazuma ulmifolia, and Brosimum alicastrum that was included as control. The evaluation included chemical analyses and forage intake by rabbits. The first method was a cafeteria trial; 12 California growing rabbits aged 8 wk, allocated in individual cages, were offered the five forage plants at the same time inside the cage, while in the second trial 60 California growing rabbits aged 8 wk, allocated individually, were randomly distributed into 5 experimental groups (n = 12/group); for each group just one forage species was offered at a time. The testing period for each method lasted for 7 d, preceded by one week of adaptation. The results showed that B. alicastrum and L. lecocephala were the most preferred forages while on the contrary G. ulmifolia was the least preferred one by rabbits. The results also revealed that the CV% value for the 2nd method (16.32%), which the tested forages were presented separately to rabbits, was lower and methodologically more acceptable than such value for the $1^{st}$ method (34.28%), which all forages were presented together at the same time. It can be concluded that a range of tropical forages were consumed in acceptable quantities by rabbits, suggesting that diets based on such forages with a concentrate supplement could be used successfully for rabbit production. However, growth performance studies are still needed before recommendations could be made on appropriate ration formulations for commercial use.